Posted on Apr 22, 2005

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Skidmore College will receive $781,170 in capital funding from the state as part of a new state budget appropriation for independent colleges and universities.


The five-year Capital Matching Grants Program, included in a budget amendment recently approved by the Legislature, will distribute $150 million to more than 100 private schools in the state.


Skidmore, a private liberal arts college with a nearly $200 million endowment, is among a handful of schools in the greater Capital Region eligible to receive the state money.


Others include Union College in Schenectady, to receive $806,000; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, $2 million; Sage Colleges in Troy and Albany, $979,000.


“This is the most significant to date of outright grant money” from the state, said Michael Casey, vice president for advancement at Skidmore.


Mark Hansen, a spokesman for state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, said the program will support high-tech growth and economic development by forging links between government, business and institutions of higher education.


“Giving these schools additional capital money for appropriate expenditures would help strengthen them as partners in this effort to do more high-tech research and development, and create more high-tech jobs,” he said.


But eligibility for capital projects isn't limited to technology and economic development. Other areas include academic facilities, urban renewal and historic preservation.


Skidmore plans to use the state matching grant money to help raise funds for a new $30 million state-of-the-art music facility.


Casey envisions a world-class facility, which will include a 700-seat theater, practice rooms, classrooms and offices. The hall will play host to renown performers, lecturers and throngs of visitors from across the region and state, he said.


“This will be a huge addition for everybody in town,” he said, drawing a comparison to the success and popularity of the $10 million Tang Museum, completed in 2000. “It's a real asset for the state.”


The grant funds are awarded on a formula based on enrollment and Tuition Assistance Program expenditures, according to Hansen. For each dollar received from the state, schools are required to raise $3.


Robert Shorb, director of student aid and family finance at Skidmore, said the matching grant program will help the college raise funds during capital campaigns.


“These matching dollars have an effect,” he said.


Shorb said many reasons support the state providing funding to private schools.


Among New York families, “the average family income is lower for those students going to private institutions than to SUNY,” he said. “That's been true for years.


“We're also a New York school,” he said. “Projects that benefit the residents of the state of New York, both economically and culturally, they're real assets. The state is going to get a great return on these investments.”


Union College, which kicked off a five-year, $250 million capital campaign in the fall, will receive $806,000 in the state program.


Lisa Stratton, director of media and public relations, said the money could go toward several planned projects, including a $2.5 million music and arts expansion ands a new $3 million Converging Technologies center.


Tiffany Lohwater, a spokeswoman for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, said the college is awaiting more details from the state Dormitory Authority before determining a use for the money.


RPI recently completed a $100 million Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and began a multi-year, $1 billion capital campaign in the fall, Lohwater said.