PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island voters will decide next Tuesday whether to borrow $275 million for building projects at the state’s three public colleges, including Rhode Island College in Providence.
Question 1 splits the money three ways. URI’s share is the biggest at $165 million, paying for an Integrated Health Building in Kingston that is expected to open in 2031. In Providence, RIC’s $50 million would remake Adams Library and create a career readiness and student success hub there by 2030. The Community College of Rhode Island would get $60 million for a Workforce Innovation Center on its Knight Campus in Warwick, also aimed for 2030.
At RIC, the new center would offer advising, career help and job connections. The college notes that more than half its students are the first in their families to go to college and that more than 70 percent of graduates stay in Rhode Island to live and work.
The CCRI building would cover 44,000 square feet, with more than half set aside for hands-on labs and shops. It would train people for jobs in advanced manufacturing, the building trades, HVAC, welding, maritime work, information technology, health care, clean energy and life sciences.
The price grows with interest. At 5 percent over 20 years, the total cost comes to about $441.3 million, or roughly $1.60 for every dollar borrowed. House Minority Leader Michael Chippendale opposes all five bond questions on the ballot, arguing the state cannot borrow its way to prosperity.
Together the five questions would authorize $600 million in borrowing. Rhode Island voters last turned down a statewide bond in 2006. Election Day is Nov. 3.
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