McNeese State University

Section 2:
Core Requirements
2.1	2.2	2.3
2.4	2.5	2.6
2.7.1	2.7.2	2.7.3
2.7.4	2.8	2.9
2.10	2.11	2.12
Section 3:
Comprehensive Standards
3.1.1	3.2.1
3.2.2.1	3.2.2.2	3.2.2.3
3.2.2.4	3.2.3	3.2.4
3.2.5	3.2.6	3.2.7
3.2.8	3.2.9	3.2.10
3.2.11	3.2.12	3.2.13
3.2.14	3.3.1	3.4.1
3.4.2	3.4.3	3.4.4
3.4.5	3.4.6	3.4.7
3.4.8	3.4.9	3.4.10
3.4.11	3.4.12	3.4.13
3.4.14	3.5.1	3.5.2
3.6.1	3.6.2	3.6.3
3.7.1	3.7.2	3.7.3
3.7.4	3.7.5	3.8.1
3.8.2	3.8.3	3.9.1
3.9.2	3.9.3	3.10.1
3.10.2	3.10.3	3.10.4
3.10.5	3.10.6	3.10.7
Section 4:
Federal Requirements
4.1	4.2	4.3
4.4	4.5	4.6
4.7	4.8

McNeese State University
Compliance Plan for Reaffirmation

Section 3.10.7: Financial and Physical Resources

Judgment of Compliance

Compliance

Partial Compliance

Non-compliance

Requirement

The institution operates and maintains physical facilities, both on and off campus, that are adequate to serve the needs of the institutions educational programs, support services, and other mission-related activities.

Narrative

McNeese State University is in compliance with Financial and Physical Resources Comprehensive Standard 3.10.7.

Description of Physical Facilities

The McNeese State University campus consists of 77 buildings with a total of 1,650,362 square feet of building space. (1) These buildings are located on 501 acres of land in Lake Charles, LA., including the McNeese State University farm, which is located approximately 3 miles from the main campus. (5) McNeese State University was founded in 1939, and all structures were completed since that date.

Also, McNeese State University leases property for university use. The university leases Burton Coliseum, a multi purpose sports arena, from the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury. Burton Coliseum sits on 45 acres of land and has permanent seating for 6,500 people. Burton Coliseum is funded by a parish-wide property tax and by self generated revenues. (12) The property also includes a livestock area, an exhibit building, and an agricultural arena. The Coliseum is located approximately three miles south of the main campus. In addition, the university leases 220 acres of farm land located adjacent to the McNeese State University farm. (5) This farm property is used as pasture for grazing cattle.

For the fall 2005 semester, the McNeese State University student enrollment was 8,997 students, and the university employed 865 faculty and staff. (13) To accommodate the needs of students, faculty, and staff, the university has the following space allocated: (1)

Total space	1,650,362	100.0
Category	Square Footage	%
Academic space, including library	485,919	29.4
Administrative space	63,114	3.8
Auxilary space*	524,661	31.8
Athletic space	66,695	4.0
Residential space	163,587	9.9
Burden space	346,386	21.0

*In addition to the auxiliary space presented in the above schedule, the university has 196,059 square feet of additional student housing space on campus. These housing units were constructed through an arrangement with Cowboy Facilities, Inc., a Louisiana nonprofit corporation created to assist the University with its facility needs.

To accommodate the parking needs of students, employees and visitors, the university also provides 5,808 parking lot spaces. (2) These are located throughout the University campus.

State of Louisiana Funded Major Repairs and Deferred Maintenance

For upkeep of its existing facilities, the Louisiana Legislature provides funding to public universities for major repairs and deferred maintenance. McNeese State University has utilized the Major Repair and Deferred Maintenance funding for projects that fall under the following categories: 1.) Life Safety, 2.) Code Compliance, 3.) Repair of critical systems in danger of failing, 4.) Repairs that extend the useful life of campus facilities, 5.) Energy Conservation and 6.) ADA Compliance. The following schedule represents the amount of funding that McNeese State University has expended on its facilities for major repairs and deferred maintenance since 1997: (6)

1997	$ 235,869.00
1998	340,978.88
1999	854,449.74
2000	442,552.19
2001	463,666.70
2002	487,493.00
2003	119,108.00
2004	247,988.99
2005	194,786.00
2006	936,101.00
Total	$ 4,322,993.50

Plans for Capital Improvements

To facilitate planning for future capital project needs, the university prepares a five year capital improvement plan. This plan is updated annually and is submitted to the University of Louisiana System where it is forwarded to the Louisiana Board of Regents and then to the State Office of Facility Planning and Control (FP&C) where it is incorporated into the capital outlay budget for the State of Louisiana. These projects are funded either through State appropriation or through University self-generated revenues. The Louisiana Legislature provides an appropriation for any State funded projects it approves. (3)

The most notable project in capital outlay is the Fine Arts Building expansion, which is a State funded project with an estimated cost of $12,770,000. The Fine Arts Building expansion is expected to add 58,520 square feet of building space to the university’s inventory. (4) This project was previously scheduled to begin in 2005, shortly before Hurricane Rita struck the McNeese State University campus. Hurricane Rita has caused construction costs to increase drastically causing this project to be temporarily delayed.

Construction and Maintenance Projects Funded at the University Level

For smaller projects costing less than $350,000 and funded through self generated fees, the University may proceed without going through the lengthy capital outlay process. The university has expended the following for this type of project since 1998: (7)

1998	$ 220,897.74
1999	90,170.44
2000	427,280.61
2001	394,230.64
2002	691,424.91
2003	877,985.63
2004	242,843.17
2005	916,173.60
2006	1,629,950.87
Total	$ 5,490,957.61

Cowboys Facilities, Inc. Projects

Cowboy Facilities, Inc. is a Louisiana nonprofit corporation whose sole purpose is to allow for acquiring, constructing, developing, managing, leasing, mortgaging, or conveying student housing and other facilities on the campus of the University. Since 2001, the University has utilized Cowboy Facilities, Inc. to complete three construction projects on the University campus. These projects are generally described as follows:

Student Housing

In 2002, Cowboy Facilities, Inc. completed construction on 642 units of private and semi-private student housing on the McNeese State University campus. The cost of this project was financed by the issuance of $21,120,000 in revenue bonds. The bonds are being paid with rent revenues collected from students and others using the facilities. These new units replaced aged housing on campus. (8,8A)

Athletic Parking

In 2004, Cowboy Facilities, Inc. completed a parking project on the University athletic complex adding 1155 slots to the University’s inventory of parking. The cost of this construction was financed by $820,000 in revenue bonds. The bonds will be paid with revenues collected from athletic event patrons and student parking fees. These new parking lots function as parking for athletic events and also as general parking for students. (9,9A)

Athletic Scoreboards

In 2006, Cowboy Facilities, Inc. completed construction on new athletic scoreboards throughout the University athletic complex. The cost of this project was financed through $1,900,000 in revenue bonds. These bonds will be paid-off with revenues collected from advertising on the scoreboards. (10)

Impact of Hurricane Rita

Hurricane Rita struck the McNeese State University campus on September 24, 2005 and caused significant damage to the University’s facilities. The university received light to severe damage to most of its buildings. The final cost of remediation and repairs is predicted to be between fifteen and twenty million dollars.

Most university buildings have now been remediated allowing students and employees to re-occupy them, but several buildings remain closed. The most notable closed buildings are Drew Hall, Gayle Hall, and Frasch Annex. These buildings account for approximately 120,000 square feet of academic building space. In addition, Burton Dorm is completely closed. Burton Dorm provides space for 340 resident students. The university has moved the operations of these closed buildings to other university facilities or to temporary buildings until additional remediation and repairs can be done to allow the use of the damaged facilities.

To relieve pressure on available academic facilities, the University has leased 10 temporary classroom buildings and a supporting restroom building. These classroom buildings are capable of providing 20 classrooms, and each classroom accommodates space for 50 students.

Although funding for repairs will be provided by FEMA and insurance, the amount of time to complete all repairs by the State of Louisiana cannot be confidently predicted at this time. A priority list for permanent repairs has been established by the State Division of Administration, and facilities on the McNeese State University campus will be repaired in the order established on this priority schedule, except for projects funded by the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. (15)

Some permanent repairs on the priority list will be expedited through the use of donated funds received from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. McNeese State University received $1,500,000 from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to assist the university in its recovery from Hurricane Rita, and the university elected to use these funds to speed-up permanent facility repairs. The Bush-Katrina Fund approved repair projects, many of which are underway, at the following facilities: (11, 11A)

Pinehaven Apartments	Hardtner Hall
Frazier Library	Financial Aid Building
Collette Dormitory	Farrar Hall
Student Union	Cowboy Stadium
Kirkman Hall	Alumni Center
Recreational Complex	Alpha Hall
Memorial Gymnasium	Gayle Hall Annex
Burton Business Center

Disaster Preparedness Measures

The University has taken steps to modify its Disaster Preparedness, Response & Recovery Plan to better prepare and lessen the effects of a future event similar to Hurricane Rita. The University is taking steps to create yearly contracts to supply emergency power, secure remediation contractors and temporary repairs all in an effort to resume normal operations in a timely manner in case of a similar event. (14)