What exactly will $10 million buy you at this university? If your name is Riepe, Fisher or Hassenfeld, a cool $10 mil gets you some nice signs in the Quad to commemorate the college houses newly renamed in your honor.
It's nice to see these alumni thinking of their alma mater, but since their contributions are aimed at improvements in the same Quad that just underwent a $75 million renovation, there are bigger problems for which housing officials should be drumming up money.
Ask any of the 2,400 tenants of Penn's three high-rise residences where they think Facilities dollars should be spent. Chances are, a certain word might come up more than once: plumbing.
Floods and water shutdowns are now frequent enough to set a watch by. And because of antiquated systems -- these buildings are 30 years old after all -- water problems are difficult to isolate to a particular area.
A retrofit of the system's current risers -- the main pipes that run the height of the building -- would go a long way toward making problems easier to diagnose.
The cost of such an endeavor? Facilities officials set the number at a reasonable $9 million -- about what it would cost to slap the family name on King's Court/English College House.
For a school with a budget of more than $2 billion -- not including the Health System -- this is not a monumental request, but it would make a monumental difference in the lives of people who are tired of water-related inconveniences.
Based on the median rent charge, Housing and Conference Services will take in around $15.3 million this academic year from high-rise residents. Ignoring inflation, that will sum to $457 million over the next 30 years, about the life span Penn has gotten out of the current pipes. In this context, that $9 million sticker price seems more manageable -- it's only $123 per student, per year.
An investment now would serve students well for the next 30 years. Even though many amenities, such as kitchens and bathrooms, have still not seen any upgrade from their 1970s form, at least they would be functional with a stable supply of running water.
Obviously plumbing is not the most attractive thing to raise money for, but when it comes to quality of life for residents, a few new pipes would mean a lot more than a few new plaques.
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