AUSTIN, Texas — University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell says the university plans to create a new housing endowment to help build more student housing and help Longhorns pay for it.
Hartzell told KVUE’s partners at the Austin American-Statesman the endowment will be funded by giving donors the chance to name a new complex.
Donors could also give smaller amounts to get other naming-related opportunities.
Hartzell said he hopes the endowment and the new complexes help students create a stronger community and have access to more affordable living conditions.
"We think the ability of a student to not only get to UT and find it an affordable place to study, but also their ability to thrive once they're here, all depend on, essentially, access to housing," Hartzell told the Statesman. "And so will we do our part along with the rest of the market to try to make solutions more available and really make housing not a barrier."
The housing complex will be located on Whitis Avenue and feature 1,000 beds for undergraduate students.
A donor will also be invited to name a new graduate student housing complex for UT law students. That complex will have 325 to 350 beds and was approved in a board of regents meeting on Nov. 21.
No housing endowment goal has been set yet, but the university is reaching out to donors, the Statesman reports. Any income generated by the new endowment will help fund more housing scholarships.
The full report can be found on the Statesman website.