The Capital Budget and Capital Project Overview Committee voted to approve capital projects from the University System of New Hampshire that the system described as two major residence-hall renovation projects totaling $70,000,000.

Catherine Provencher, chancellor of the state university system, told the committee that the system may issue debt only for self-supporting projects and that such debt is issued through the Health and Education Facilities Authority. “The state is not at all liable, even contingently, for any debt that is issued by the university system,” Provencher said.

UNH President Elizabeth Chilton said the work targets two primary first-year residence halls built in 1970 that have seen more than 50 years of heavy use. “We have 6,000 of our 11,000 undergraduate students on the Durham campus live on campus,” Chilton said, and she described the buildings as being in “urgent need of update” for heating, plumbing and related systems. She argued the renovations will improve student safety, recruitment and retention.

Bill Janelle, the university’s associate vice president for facilities, outlined the construction approach as a construction-management delivery method with the buildings renovated sequentially. Janelle said the program is a fast-track effort and estimated a roughly four-year window to complete both buildings, with one building brought into service before full completion of the second.

Committee members asked about enrollment trends and bonding authority. Provencher said the system has no statutory cap on bonding authority but uses financial advisers and rating agencies to manage total indebtedness; she also said the $70,000,000 figure covers the Williamson and Christiansen projects and that refinancing of prior debt—referenced in committee discussion as roughly $7,000,000—follows a separate approval path and will require HEFA and executive-level review.

The committee approved the motion to fund the projects; Provencher thanked members and said the work will “make a big difference on the campus.”