Trustees OK funding for housing study

Shoreline Community College is going to look at the feasibility of building and operating student housing on campus.

At the Oct. 28, 2015 regular meeting, the college Board of Trustees on a unanimous 4-0 vote approved spending up to $200,000 from existing one-time funds to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of constructing and operating a student housing facility on campus.

The college Master Development Plan approved by the city of Shoreline in 2014 includes the possibility of on-campus housing.

Discussions to provide housing for Shoreline Community College students have been ongoing for the past five years. A number of locations both on- and off-campus have been considered along with a variety of funding and ownership strategies.

This feasibility study will be based on the on-campus site of the existing soccer field and track on the north end of campus. The study will look at financing using what is known as a Certificate of Participation (COP) issued by the state of Washington on behalf of the college. Revenue from rental fees generated by the housing project would be used to pay off the COP debt. While the initial cost of the study will be covered by the college, that expense could be folded into the overall cost of the project.

The housing would be open and available to all students. Besides a strong draw for international students, Shoreline has a number of programs that attract domestic students from outside the area, including automotive technology, nursing, dental hygiene, manufacturing, music technology and biotechnology.