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_________________________________________________________________________________________ <br />City of Arden Hills <br />Planning Commission Meeting for March 8, 2017 <br />P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2017\PC 17-006 - Higher Education Study\Memos_Reports_17-006 <br /> <br />Page 3 of 10 <br /> <br /> <br />TOP PROIRTIES <br />BETHEL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF NORTHWESTERN <br />Raise $150,000,000 Fulfill Their Mission <br />Increase Use of the Anderson Center by <br />Adding Health Care Programs Enrollment Growth to 7,000 Students <br />Build the Endowment Add Programs <br />Grow College of Adult and Professional <br />Studies to 4,000 Students Additional Resources and Money <br /> <br />Northwestern stated they cannot meet their growth expectations on their current campus. <br />Northwestern is looking for sites in Arden Hills, Roseville or Shoreview to build additional <br />facilities which would be designed for adult and graduate students and would not include student <br />housing. <br /> <br />Costs <br /> <br />During the Planning Commission’s review of the application from Northwestern regarding the <br />Smiths Medical property on November 9, 2016, the President of Northwestern stated that it <br />would cost about $150 per square foot to renovate the Smiths Medical buildings into a STEM <br />facility while new construction would be closer to $400 per square foot. Staff at Bethel noted <br />similar experiences with the cost savings associated with renovation versus new construction. <br />Both universities stated that the cost savings outweighs the separation for their existing campus, <br />particularly if they intend to use the facilities for adult or graduate courses in which the students <br />typically would not live on campus. <br /> <br />End of the Joint Engineering Program with the University of Minnesota <br /> <br />The University of Minnesota recently ended its 3-2 engineering program with all of its partner <br />colleges and universities. The 3-2 program allowed students to attend three years of college at <br />their first college or university (including Bethel and Northwestern) and then transfer to the <br />University of Minnesota for the final two years of the engineering program. The University of <br />Minnesota has terminated this agreement with all other colleges and universities, but has agreed <br />to honor any students that have started the program before the agreement expired. This means <br />that Bethel and Northwestern will need to have their own junior and senior level engineering <br />programs established by Fall 2018. The President of Northwestern stated that the university will <br />need to find a temporary facility by May 2018 and a permanent facility to house the engineering <br />program by Fall 2019. <br /> <br />Increasing Student Enrollment through Technology and Graduate Programs <br /> <br />Bethel has a total of 4,267 students, of which 1,153 are graduate level. Northwestern has a total <br />3,231 students, of which 213 are graduate level. Bethel plans on increasing the Continuing Adult