$44 million financing secured for SUNO housing project

A historic building project at Southern University, New Orleans (SUNO) has been launched thanks to a $44 million low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Education’s HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Capital Financing Program.

SUNO Chancellor Victor Ukpolo and a SU System representative traveled to Washington, D.C. in June for the loan closing. The loan has an interest rate of 1 percent for 30 years and will be used to construct a proposed student housing facility. Projected to be completed by Fall 2008, it will be the first housing construction of its kind for the 51 year-old institution.

“This is an historic day for SUNO on many fronts,” Ukpolo said. “First of all, in our quest to secure this loan, we have received incredible support from our Board of Supervisors, the Louisiana Board of Regents, State Bond Commission, several federal and state legislators and Gov. Kathleen Blanco. I can’t thank them enough. Secondly, securing this financing should signal to the world that SUNO is indeed firmly on the road to recovery, and will remain a viable component in the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region for the foreseeable future.”

Congress created the HBCU Capital Financing Program in 1992 under the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide eligible HBCU’s with access to low-cost financing to fund capital projects. As a result of damage caused to HBCU’s by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, in June 2006, Congress, in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror and Hurricane Recovery, 2006, amended certain statutory provisions for institutions affected by the Gulf Coast hurricane disasters and granted the Secretary of Education the authority to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provisions of the program in connection with a Gulf Coast hurricane disaster.
 
The Emergency Act also provides that the authority to enter into, waive, or modify the terms of a loan agreement expires one year (June 15, 2007) after the legislation’s enactment.

June 1, 2007 marked the beginning of the second hurricane season in which SUNO has operated from a temporary North Campus comprised of 45 modular trailers constructed by FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. SUNO’s Main Campus was destroyed by floodwaters from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The University remains the only New Orleans area institution of higher learning that has not returned to its original campus. SUNO officials project that student housing would boost the University’s enrollment to pre-Katrina levels within a few years upon completion, and allow the University to better compete for students nationwide.

“This amenity will greatly assist SUNO with addressing affordable housing issues in the Greater New Orleans Area, and provide displaced students an opportunity to return to the city in order to complete their education, subsequently contributing to the economic renaissance of the entire Gulf Coast region,” Ukpolo said. “This will enable SUNO to offer residential student housing like all other four-year institutions in the state.”