College of the Canyons Reconsiders $62M Student Housing Grant

 

By Tim Haddock

02/06/2024 at 10:00 PM

The College of the Canyons Board of Trustees voted 3-2 to rescind a previous decision to return $62 million in state grant funding for a low-income student housing project, despite concerns about funding gaps and lease-revenue bond requirements. While newly elected trustees pushed to explore ways to make the project viable, the college administration warned that financial and logistical challenges, including increased construction costs and long-term operational expenses, still need to be addressed.

 

 

VALENCIA – One of the first actions the new College of the Canyons governing board took was to review and reverse a decision to return funds for low-income housing for students on campus.

 

COC was one of 13 community colleges in the state to receive part of a grant to build housing for students. The college received $62 million for the project, leaving it about 3% short of funding the entire project, according to budget planners.

 

Newly elected Board of Trustee member Fred Arnold is leading the charge to reverse the decision to return the money. He said at the governing board meeting on Jan. 31 it is too soon to give up and not figure out a way to make it work.

 

To make up the deficit, the college would have to make cuts in areas like instruction materials and projects. 

The board voted 3-2 to rescind a letter to refuse accepting the money for the housing project. 

 

Board President Sharlene Johnson, Arnold and Darlene Trevino voted in favor of it. Edel Alonso and Carlos Guerrero voted against it.

 

Alonso and Guerrero were on the board when the decision was made to refuse the money in October. Alonso, who was the board president at the time, said it was a fiscally conservative decision that didn’t commit the college to a project that might end up costing more than estimated.

 

Johnson, Trevino and Arnold are newly elected trustee members. They were in favor of moving forward with a project to provide housing for students.

 

But new district chancellor and interim college president David Andrus said deciding to accept the funds for student housing was premature and the college needs to develop a plan first to fully fund the project before accepting the money.

 

He also advised the board it might be too late to ask for the money back. Once it was returned, he did not know if it was possible to ask for it to be returned.

 

“I think when the motion was made tonight, and a second, there should have been a discussion about whether or not that motion is timely,” Andrus told The Signal newspaper the night of the meeting, “or whether or not it could be made at a future board meeting after a secondary presentation about all the funding mechanisms, or whether or not some of that could have been presented tonight.” 

 

Another option the board discussed was the possibility of using housing units at California Institute of the Arts for College of the Canyons students. Cal Arts has dorms available for its students on its campus.

 

The grant for the housing project came from the Affordable Student Housing Grant and was supposed to provide funds for the first phase of the project. That funding was later restructured from a grant to lease-revenue bonds.

 

That change requires the college to put up multiple buildings as collateral and make other revisions in regard to the size and cost of the housing facility.  Those revisions, as indicated in the agenda for the board of trustees meeting on Jan. 31, include: 

 

Due to an increase in construction costs, the funding provided would no longer allow the college to build the same size facility as originally presented in 2021. The college had worked with architects to design a 209-bed facility, the cost of which would have exceeded the $61.8 million that was budgeted for the project. If the college were to go through with the 209-bed facility, funds would need to be raised or general fund money would need to be used to cover the cost of the increase, estimated at $5 million. 

 

The college could descope the facility to come in under the $61.8 million, which would mean fewer beds and fewer amenities for students. The operating costs would exceed the amount that would be generated through rents. Since rent is not a factor that can be increased due to it being low-income, the college would have to budget general funds to cover the annual costs of the building. 

 

The board and the college did not want to utilize two buildings as collateral for the lease revenue bonds. The original grant was awarded to the college through an application process, and did not require the college to work with multiple state entities through a lease revenue bond.

 

Jasmine Ruys, the assistant superintendent of student services, made some other observations during the board meeting. She said students in the housing facility would need services in case of emergencies such as the one the college faced during the Hughes Fire in January when part of the campus was turned into an evacuation center. The college would also have to provide 24-hour services for students who live on campus and that would lead to added costs to college.

Additionally, she said the 200-unit facility would not provide enough space for the students who want and are seeking housing.