Twin Cities Colleges, Universities Pursue Renovations, New Buildings Despite Enrollment Challenges

The University of St. Thomas sounded a budget alarm in April as it announced staff layoffs and other belt-tightening measures. At the same time, St. Thomas welcomed visitors to the Schoenecker Center, a new arts and sciences building on the St. Paul campus, which sits opposite a future 5,000-seat, Division I hockey and basketball arena under construction off Cretin Avenue. Like St. Thomas, Macalester College in St. Paul and Bethel University in Arden Hills faced years of steady or declining enrollment during the pandemic, as well as rising labor costs and other factors unsettling college campuses across the country. But they, too, have embarked on capital campaigns with the goal, in part, of erecting new buildings or renovating existing ones, even as low unemployment and a declining national birth rate suggest continued tough times ahead.