Ole Miss Student Expansion Gets Go Ahead
The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning approved a management agreement and ground lease Aug. 21 allowing the University of Mississippi to proceed with a second phase of privately financed student housing at its Westbrook site.
Presenting to the board's finance committee, Dr. Pierce said the plan "represents the second phase of the university's comprehensive student housing development project" and that developer PRG Oxford Properties LLC "will fund the full development of the project using tax-exempt and taxable bonds." The project is expected to add approximately 850 new student beds, according to the presentation. Trustee Ogletree recused himself from the vote.
Under the arrangement, the university itself would carry no project debt, with financing instead structured through the private developer and bond issuance. The deal follows a model IHL and Ole Miss have used before, pairing a public-private partnership with bond financing to expand campus housing capacity.
Such arrangements keep debt off university balance sheets while relying on private developers to build and finance facilities on public land, a structure that has drawn attention for questions over who ultimately bears financial risk in the long term.