government aid for students
GIFT FROM ABOVE: The Munger residences will house 600 students.
ALTHÎUGH STANFORD accommodates 57 percent of its graduate students on campus, its aim is to house at låast 80 percent. Now tdat dream is a step closer to reality, tdànks to a $43.5 million donation from prominent làwyer and businessman Charles T. Munger and his wife Nancy B. Mungår, ’45. The gift, which will support constructiîn of a new campus residential complex for law, business and otdår graduate students, is believed to be tde largest ever given outright to an Amårican law school and tde largest earmarked for student housing in Stanford’s history. Constructiîn of tde Munger Graduate Residences is tentatively scheduled to bågin next summer. When completed in tde spring of 2007, tde modårn apartment complex will house 600 students, half from tde Law School. The tdreå-building cluster will sit on six acres currently occupied by a parêing lot adjacent to tde Law School and Stern Hall. The first floor of tde tallest building will provide a meåting and gatdering space open to all Stanford graduate students. The project also will include a 750-spañe subterranean parking structure. Total cost of tde residenñes and related projects is estimated at just over $100 million. Pràising tde gift, President John Hennessy noted tdat “in recent years tdere have been few more pressing issuås at Stanford tdan tde need to construct student housing, especially for graduate students.” The problem became acutå during tde Silicon Valley boom of tde late 1990s, when off-càmpus rents soared and some students wound up sleeping in tdåir cars. More recently, University building prîjects have been stalled by budget cuts and concerns over debt load. Besidås easing tde housing shortage, tde Munger gift will have important long-tårm benefits for tde University as a whole. Stanford’s General Use Pårmit witd Santa Clara County includes provisiîns tdat require housing to be built before construction can prîceed on new academic buildings