Farmingdale State Seeks $53 Million For New Building
Farmingdale State College (FSC) housed an assortment of assembly members and senators as FSC President John Nader presented the college’s desire to be granted $53 million to fund a new 40,000-square-foot academic building for applied sciences. The building would accommodate nearly 1,000 students, an expansion that is necessary for the college’s 47 percent increase in student enrollment over the last decade.
“Farmingdale’s enrollment reached above 10,000 students in fall of 2018,” Nader explained. “That represents a 47 percent increase since 2008. Simply put, the college is nearing the point of being unable to accommodate further enrollment growth, and we do not wish to turn away deserving students seeking opportunities here on Long Island.”
Nader noted the college’s plans to add five new programs in the fall of 2019, with more than 400 applications submitted already for those programs.
“So we are in growth mode, the college is thriving,” he said. “Farmingdale continues to make substantial investments from its own resources to accommodate that growth. These investments speak to our success, but they are not a substitute for a new academic building that can house expanding programs in the stem fields and other high-demand fields here at Farmingdale.”
After the Farmingdale College president spoke, Senator John Brooks, an alum of FSC, took to the mic to advocate for the investment plans.
“This is really a great opportunity,” he mused to the audience, going on to speak about how FSC was an agriculture school during the time when he was a student. “SUNY Farmingdale is probably the best example of a SUNY success story now on Long Island. The school is growing because of the dynamic effort being made here. It makes only perfect sense to build this new building.”
John Durso, the president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, expressed that should the academic building proposal go as planned, the site will be built with union workers.
Currently, Farmingdale State College has designs drawn and a site located on campus to build. Should the college obtain funding, “we will be able to move forward with bids and get construction underway,” Nader said.
