TRENT UNIVERSITY

CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 2000-04

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

The strategy that follows responds to a range of opportunities and challenges facing Trent today and in the next few years. These include:

• the need to eliminate deficits in our annual operating and ancillary budgets so that the University regains the financial capacity to renew itself through investments in core academic programs, innovation and new developments
• the desire to avoid increases in student ancillary fees and to offer residence accommodation and food services at reasonable prices, with consistent quality and service across the University
• the need to generate revenue through enrolment growth and to absorb our share of anticipated system growth due to improved participation rates and the double-cohort
• the need to recognize the needs of younger entering students beginning with the double cohort
• the need to deal with the unmanageable deferred maintenance liability currently on the books which will only increase as our buildings/facilities age
• the need to position ourselves positively for negotiation of a new funding corridor and various other targeted funding opportunities ,
• the desirability of sustaining and enhancing our research program and facilities and providing more research/scholarship opportunities,
• the desire to modernize the technological infrastructure and facilities that support teaching in all existing disciplines and for new academic programs that will be part of Trent's revitalization
• the desirability of offering appropriate and flexible space for academic activities
• the desirability of providing students improved access to Trent facilities and services
• the desirability of increasing institutional cohesiveness and interdisciplinary opportunities through increased proximity
• the need to ultimately address a significant cumulative operating deficit, and
• the desirability of aligning capital campaign objectives with new building opportunities

A small institution like Trent does not enjoy the luxury of considering issues like these in isolation and likewise cannot respond to opportunities like the SuperBuild Growth Fund in anything but a holistic manner, taking into very clear account the spin-off effects of each decision.

CAPITAL STRATEGY

Trent's integrated capital strategy for the next five years involves:

1. Creation of a new residential college on the Symons campus. With spaces for 313 resident undergraduates, this college will house faculty and staff currently located at Peter Robinson and Catharine Parr Traill Colleges and will meet the needs identified for a First People's House of Learning and Humanities Centre.

2. An expanded, refurbished complex for the sciences including facilities for business-research partnerships and conferences.

3. Demolition of the current Otonabee College residence and construction of new accommodation designed for up to 327* resident undergraduate and graduate students. This facility would be used as conference accommodation in summer months.

4. Closure of Peter Robinson and Catharine Parr Traill Colleges and the sale of all Trent properties associated with these colleges.

5. Establishment of an endowment fund from the proceeds of the sale of the town colleges for the maintenance of the new facilities.

This strategy does not yet address certain identified outstanding needs including creation of readily-accessible student affairs offices located near the centre of the Symons campus and facilities for enhancing linkages with community colleges and our local communities which we hope to pursue through the second phase of SuperBuild.

[*footnote: Residential components of this strategy would be provided through a partnership with the private sector. The eventual size of Trent's residential operation, and specifically the proportion of the entering class for whom residence accommodation will be provided, remains to be determined as an issue of institutional policy.]

IMPACT

Under this strategy Trent will achieve:

• teaching space and updated facilities for between 1,100 and 1,400 more undergraduate students at our expanded steady-state level. Trent's share of the one-time double cohort phenomenon (1,035 FTE students) will be accommodated through delaying the phasing out of Catharine Parr Traill College (and the current Otonabee residences).
• improved and expanded residence accommodation for first year students - on the Symons campus, the location overwhelming preferred by entering students and their parents.
• some limited accommodation for graduate and married students based on the expansion of residential facilities noted above.
• residence facilities that will be acceptable for conference and other use during the summer - a direct revenue generation strategy.
• retirement of $16 million in deferred maintenance. This represents 95% of pressing deferred maintenance needs, and half of the overall accumulated deferred maintenance of the University.
• with the maintenance of new buildings assured into the future, the institution will be positioned to address in new ways the deferred maintenance of Champlain College, Lady Eaton College and the Bata Library and the significant national architectural heritage these facilities represent.
• reduction in operating expenses starting at approximately $400,000 and growing over time to $1 million annually.
• a strengthened and diversified college system that could involve continuation of two colleges with traditional interdisciplinarity (LEC and CC), creation of a new science/social science focus for Otonabee College, and a humanities and graduate studies emphasis at a new residential college on the Symons campus.
• relocation of faculty and staff from the town colleges to the Symons campus and sufficient capacity for additional faculty and staff who will be needed to serve increased enrolments temporarily through the double-cohort and permanently thereafter.

FUNDING

The building and renovation costs of this strategy will total approximately $70 million. Half will be covered through partnerships with private developers for construction and potential operation of the residential dimensions of colleges. We will be seeking support for a $39,653,000 capital development project of which the government would provide $32,790,000 (82%) under the SuperBuild program. The University would commit $4,360,000 (12%) as its private sector contribution through the Beyond Our Walls Campaign and through the use of bequests about to be realized. Elements of the Campaign which qualify include campus renewal, learning technology, CFI and ATOP matching, and the First Peoples House of Learning and Humanities Centre (with a more aggressive target). In addition the University would contribute another $2,500,000 (6%) through various government matching programs (e.g. CFI, ORDCF). Trent's ability to participate in the SuperBuild projects will not reach the 30% normally expected in provincial capital programs. Our SuperBuild submission will also be explicit about our intention to commit proceeds from the sale of Catharine Parr Traill College to provide a fund for maintenance of new construction on the Symons Campus on a going-forward basis.

TIME LINE

Winter 1999-00
Form users' committees to identify new/expanded/renovated building needs
Identify of private sector partners for new residence facilities

Favourable SuperBuild Funding Announcement
Hire architect(s) - move into design phase

August 2000
PRC Faculty, staff, offices move to CPTC

September 2000
Construction on Symons campus commences (excluding residences)

September 2000 to June 2001
PRC sold.

September 2001
Residence construction on Symons Campus commences

June 2002
New academic space including First People's House of Learning and Humanities
Centre/college opens.
Faculty, staff and offices at CPTC relocated to Symons campus.
Renovation of science facilities commences.

August 2002 to Feb. 2003
Selected buildings at CPTC sold (Principal's house, Stewart, Langdon, Bradburn).

September 2002
New Symons campus residential spaces open.

September 2003
Renovated sciences facilities re-open

July 2004 - Spring 2005
Sale of balance of CPTC buildings (Kerr, Wallis, Scott)