Private financing helps Athens campus grow

ATHENS - Bypassing the state, the University of Georgia is using private financing to pay for its growth, including new student housing, research space and parking decks. <br> <br> School officials say the university will mount $267 million in privately financed debt before it reins in spending. Colleges around the country use their good names with lenders to bypass slow state approval channels. <br> <br> ``It really changed the spirit around here,&#39;&#39; said Danny Sniff, director of the Office of University Architects. Officials ``can see the light at the end of the tunnel on new buildings. They don&#39;t have to wait eight to 10 years for a project.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The state funding process pits the university against 33 other public colleges in a competition for limited money. The art school, for example, has waited for years on a list of state construction projects without a green light. <br> <br> The private process, much faster, starts with a foundation or nonprofit group, like the university&#39;s Real Estate Foundation, created two years ago to buy property that fits into the school&#39;s master plan. <br> <br> The foundation partners with local government groups, which issue tax-exempt bonds. Then the foundation uses fees and donations to retire the debt. <br> <br> ``Without this kind of mechanism we wouldn&#39;t be able to make the kind of progress we&#39;ve been able to make in providing some of these facilities,&#39;&#39; said Hank Huckaby, the school&#39;s senior vice president for finance and administration. <br> <br> The result has been a boom in construction at the Athens campus, even in a weak economy. The art school has new space on Broad Street, paid for by the university&#39;s real estate foundation. <br> <br> ``It just exploded,&#39;&#39; said Charles Lampman, vice president and general manager of The University Financing Foundation, a 20-year-old Atlanta-based foundation assisting colleges and universities. ``All of a sudden people are realizing that it works. Every time I go to a meeting, I hear more and more universities talking about using foundations to supplement what the state is unable to provide.&#39;&#39;