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Ball State president asks lawmakers for $88.4M to modernize library, $1.5M line item to expand talent pipelines
Summary
Ball State University President presented capital and operating requests to the Senate Appropriations Committee: $88.4 million requested for a library-to‑learning‑commons conversion, $1.5 million per year for a new talent‑pipeline line item, and a call for base operating increases tied to outcomes funding.
President Geoffrey Mearns told the committee Ball State's top capital priority is a major renovation of the university library — a project estimated at $140 million total, for which the university requests $88.4 million from the state. He described the library as heavily used but designed in the 1970s, and said the planned scope includes infrastructure replacement, new collaborative learning spaces, shelving relocation and furniture and professional fees.
Mearns also requested a new $1.5 million per year line item to expand Ball State’s state‑focused talent pipeline programs that connect K–12 work‑based learning to higher education and employment. He cited outcomes showing a high proportion of Ball State graduates remain in Indiana and described initiatives — industry‑directed pathways, teacher apprenticeships and graduate retention — that the funding would expand.
On operating support, Mearns proposed an across‑the‑board base increase for institutions and encouraged application of prospective, outcomes‑based funding. He noted Ball State has kept tuition increases below recommended caps and has used philanthropic and federal funds to support program transitions. Committee members asked for clarifications about capital priorities and the relationship between fee replacement projections and the request; Mearns said funding capacity exists if the state approves main capital requests across public institutions.
