Clearinghouse Website: Federal Funding Stimulus for School Facilities

SCUPer Judy Marks, who is the associate director of the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF), made a point of letting us know about that organizations newest addition to its vast collection of educational facilities-related annotated bibliographies:

The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities has just added a new webpage, Federal Funding Stimulus for School Facilities, to the NCEF website.

The first webpage section, "Status of the School Funding Stimulus," describes the school-related elements of the January 15th draft House bill. This section will be continually updated as the house and senate bills proceed through Congress.

The second section, "What You Can Do Now," provides advice on the most effective way of spending the stimulus funds. We will be adding much more to this section over the next week.

There are four additional sections, "Funding Stimulus News," "Related Events," "Recent Journal Articles," and "Related NCEF Resource Lists." We will continually add information to these.

Anticipating Stimulus Money for Campus Projects, Colleges Get 'Shovel Ready'

Scott Carlson, of The Chronicle of Higher Education, recently wrote a must-read article about the stimulus package, and he's arranged for SCUPers to have an unprotected link to read it. Thanks, Scott.

The billions of dollars in the bill before Congress would be distributed through the Department of Energy and through state higher-education agencies, in the form of grants and loans. Of the $7-billion, at least $2.5-billion would go toward energy-efficiency projects certified by programs like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. (The legislation also includes $500-million for training in green jobs.)

In awarding the money to institutions, the bill's language specifies, state higher-education agencies should give preference to colleges that serve large numbers of minority students, have been hit by a natural disaster, or are planning energy-efficiency projects. The money should not go to new construction, sports facilities, or facilities used for religious worship or divinity schools.

The language or the amounts in the bill could change as Congress debates the stimulus measure, which legislators are expected to make final within the next few weeks. For now, colleges are preparing lists of projects that are "shovel ready," should the money roll down from Washington. The bill includes "use it or lose it" requirements: At least half of the money would have to be spent within a year of the measure's being enacted, and the rest within two years.

R U Shovel Ready? New Email List to Use to Stay Informed

Judging by the emails and phone calls we receive, the entire higher education world is buzzing with preparations to be "shovel ready" for the forthcoming stimulus package funding. We've created a topical email list for those who might like to be connected with others on this topic. You can join it via the Web here or you can join it by sending a message to "shovelready-request@umich.edu" with the word "subscribe" in the Subject line (no quotes in what you type). Anyone can join, there is no fee or SCUP membership requirement.

We're also gauging right now whether there are other ways SCUP might be helpful to people regarding "shovel ready"—the difficulty is, of course, that things are moving with lightning speed, which leave little time to think, plan, and implement any kind of resource.