ULLIN, Ill. -- Shawnee Community College received a funding boost last week for a 52-room dorm, the first for the college. The dorm is expected to change the landscape of the Ullin campus.

The college received a $1.85 million loan from Illinois USDA Rural Development, which also guaranteed a loan for $1 million with a bank in Tamms, Ill. Blended, the loans have an interest rate of 5.25 percent.

The Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative also granted $50,000 for the project.

"It's going to change the entire mindset of the campus," said president Dr. Larry Peterson.

With students on campus 24 hours a day, hours for the cafeteria and library will need to be extended and a cyber cafe and updated student center will need to be built, Peterson said.

Construction for a medical arts building, which will include a coffee shop and a fitness center, is expected to begin in April and be completed by spring of 2010, a year later than initially anticipated.

The foundation for the dorm was poured last month, and the dorm is expected to be completed in early March, weather permitting, said Jeff Wiggs, the executive director of the school's foundation. The foundation will own the housing.

Wiggs said the college is behind the curve in offering housing, and that most rural community colleges in the area already do so.

He said he expects the two-person rooms, offered at a cost of $265 a month, to be filled quickly.

"With the rising cost of gas prices, we think this is something students will be interested in. Most of our students are driving 20-plus miles," he said.

Also in the works is a Career and Technology Center, which will be bid out in January with construction beginning in April. The center will consolidate the college's existing vocational programs in one building.

Shawnee serves 3,467 students, 1,106 of which are full time.

lbavolek@semissourian.com

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