Tech dormitories of university campuses are facing an inevitable reckoning as they seek to balance their books amid rising costs and a shift to digital devices.
But the national university dormitry in Georgia has decided to sell its campus bed linens and is looking to use proceeds to build a new building that would accommodate new students.
The University of Georgia is a public institution with more than 10,000 students in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, and about 300,000 alumni.
In addition to its undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs, the school has also offered two graduate programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
In the spring of 2018, the university announced that it was downsizing its campus and had reduced its academic and non-academic offerings by about 50 percent.
But the university had been looking for a solution to its growing cash-strapped campuses, which are also experiencing the rise of college-aged students.
Since graduating from high school, student-to-faculty ratios at Georgia Tech have been declining, as well.
In the fall of 2018 alone, student numbers were down by nearly one-third.
In 2017, they dropped by just over one-half.
But a new research paper by University of Southern California professor David Bailenson found that even if the university were to sell the bed linents, that would only leave the university with about $250,000 to invest in a new campus, as opposed to the $1.4 million currently projected.
If the new building were built with the university’s current inventory, it would have a total of about $5 million, Bailensen wrote.
The university said in a statement that it is looking at all options, including potential options to sell campus bed-linens, to save money.
The dormitory of Georgia Tech in Alpharetta, Ga., has decided that it will sell off its campus flooring, bed linings and other supplies to build new dorms in a bid to save on operating costs and maintain student numbers, a spokesperson told Vice News.
The new dorm will have a capacity of 10 students per room, the spokesperson said.
The campus is located on a hill overlooking the Chattahoochee River, in a small town in southeastern Georgia.
Georgia Tech has about 30,000 undergraduates and graduate students, and another 10,500 enrolled in graduate programs.
The school also offers four medical and nursing programs.