UC makes big land purchase for campus housing

With an increase in on campus student enrollment that is expected this fall when its reduced tuition rates kick in, the University of the Cumberlands is anticipating a need for additional on-campus housing and is taking steps to move in that direction.

On May 14, UC purchased three pieces of property from Dogwood Properties LLC on West Sycamore Street in Williamsburg for a total of $874,999, according to deeds filed in the Whitley County Clerk’s Office.

The properties are located at 16, 22 and 46 West Sycamore Street.

Director of University Communications and Marketing Andrew Powell confirmed Monday that the property will become campus housing at some point.

“We are poised to realize significant on campus growth this year (due) primarily to the tuition reduction, which at this point makes us the most affordable private university in the state and more affordable or equally affordable to most public universities,” Powell added.

In early September, UC announced that it was cutting tuition costs for on-campus, undergraduate students by 57 percent starting in August 2019. This means that tuition for on-campus, undergraduate students will be reduced from $23,000 to $9,875.

In March, the school announced that it would be converting about two-thirds of its hotel rooms at the Cumberland Inn into student housing.

Starting July 1, the 33 hotel rooms in the Templeton Wing at Cumberland Inn will close for renovations, and conversion into housing for 66 students.