KSA Requests Vancity Loan for SUB Construction

The loan will provide $15-million for the project

Kwantlen Polytechnic University will have a brand-new student union building on the Surrey campus by 2018, and the Kwantlen Student Association has just submitted a loan application to Vancity to fund its construction.

A student referendum in 2009 led to the introduction of the Student Union Building Fund to “build and operate student-owned SUB buildings,” as stated on the KSA’s list of resolutions. However, the KSA doesn’t have the ability to finance the project independently, so they have requested a loan of approximately $15-million from Vancity.

The application fee is $37,500, but it will be refunded to the KSA if they “don’t want to go ahead with taking out the loan.”

“We’ll spend the course of the summer working with Vancity to determine the nitty gritty details,” says KSA president Alex McGowan. “We will have an offer put out to us, probably at the end of the summer, to actually take out the loan itself.”

The details of the appearance and functionality of the SUB are yet to be determined, but it will broadly “offer services and space for students and all of their needs on campus.” McGowan predicts that it will provide expanded food services and student space.

Part of the fund has been allocated towards “renovations on all campuses for the KSA spaces to expand them and make sure we’re supporting all students […] in comprehensive ways,” says McGowan.