By Emily Bruzzo, News Editor

Published in print Feb. 11, 2015

At a faculty senate meeting last Wednesday, Chancellor Linda Brady outlined the logistics and final figures of UNC-Greensboro’s Union Square project.

The project is a public-private partnership with N.C. A&T, Guilford Technical Community College and Cone Health.

The total cost of construction for the project, which Brady says “there’s nothing else like in the state,” is $22 million. The total cost of the technology that the facility will employ is $2.8 million.

However, fundraising efforts are expected to garner $8.6 million, which will bring down the total on the mortgage to $16.2 million.

Brady explained that, in an attempt to include all major Greensboro institutions, Greensboro College President Larry Czarda will act as the institutional director.

Because Union Square is not owned by the institutional partners, but instead by the city, the users must pay a lease.

The current high leasing price facing UNCG— the institution paying the most out of the group— is $775,500. The possible low leasing price is $660,000

With many community members excited about the opportunities Union Square can bring to UNCG, other campus constituents are concerned.

Recent news that the N.C. General Assembly will be enacting a temporary 1.25 percent cut to UNC system schools has made some wary of any additional spending.

The university community has already braced itself for a permanent two percent cut to the budget for next year, but this recently announced cut has come as a surprise.

Provost Dana Dunn assured the faculty senate that UNCG’s 1.25 percent cut, which amounts to roughly $1.8 million, will not be directed at academic units.

Dunn explained that UNCG’s official enrollment census came in and undergraduate enrollment has increased by 1.6 percent and graduate enrollment by 1.4 percent.

The increased enrollment numbers have left the university with excess revenues of roughly $700,000, which will go toward helping lessen the impact of the 1.25 percent cut.