After hurricane, UNCW faces extensive rebuilding at hefty price tag
The big-ticket item was
The rest will come from the state. In October, in a special session, the legislature allocated
Part of the cost of the Dobo repair will be reinforcing the structure to withstand a future Category 3 or Category 4 hurricane, Sartarelli said.
"We want to make sure there's a roof that can withstand 130 to 150 miles an hour," he said.
In the meantime, students have spread out to other facilities for science instruction. By January, modular units will be set up for science labs and classrooms, and by next fall, a temporary metal building will be erected while the Dobo reconstruction is under way, Sartarelli said.
Sartarelli said insurance will cover
The university also lost 13 apartment buildings on campus to water damage. Attempts to clean them and make them safe for students didn't work, Sartarelli said.
Five of the buildings had been on schedule for demolition anyway. Now, all 13 will be torn down, to make way for a new complex with 1,800 beds to be built through a partnership with private companies that will build a four-building housing development on UNCW land the university leases for the
For now, students are tripling and quadrupling up in their dormitories, or staying in nearby hotels or apartment complexes. Next year, UNCW will be able to accommodate 400 fewer students on campus, Sartarelli said, while the new housing is being built. That is likely to mean more juniors and seniors will live off campus.
UNCW students lost four weeks of the semester before and after the hurricane. The university had to squeeze 15 weeks of instruction into 11, by canceling fall break and some reading days, lengthening classes and getting a waiver for the rest.
Sartarelli said he would ask the legislature for another
"If for whatever reason we end up using less than whatever we get from the state government, we have to return it," he said.
"We're only a mile from the
Besides the
The money will be allocated to students by the individual campuses.
"Hopefully we'll have some wonderful success stories in helping those students," said
UNC Board of Governors member
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