As Alabama’s largest city continues to expand, officials at Alabama A&M University say that growth is putting an unexpected strain on its campus.

“The way Huntsville is currently growing, it’s good for the city but it’s unfortunately bad for our students,” Carlton Spellman, the university’s vice president of finance, said at a recent budget hearing. “The housing market is really pricing our students out and it’s creating a real challenge for us.”

AAMU, like many of the state’s HBCUs, is seeing a surge in its student population after a long enrollment decline. The college enrolled its largest freshman class this year – over 2,600 students – and saw a 10% overall jump in enrollment. It now enrolls 6,657 students.

But a shortage of affordable off-campus housing, combined with longstanding facilities needs, has created a demand that the college is struggling to meet, Spellman told higher education officials Tuesday.

Alabama A&M University is now asking for $217 million more in state funding – a 131% increase over its current budget of $165,100,131 – to help fund new construction projects and address salary compression and maintenance needs.

The college joins 13 other state universities that asked for increases in state funding at a budget hearing before the Alabama Commission on Higher Education on Tuesday. AAMU’s request, totaling $382,108,141 for the 2024-25 fiscal year, was the largest proposed budget increase reviewed by the commission.

Officials project, however, that just $5 to 6 million of the budget increase will fund recurring expenses, like salaries and utilities. The majority of those funds will go toward one-time costs, including $21 million in dorm renovations, a new $80 million STEM building and a $60 million student center.

As a land-grant institution, AAMU is supposed to receive the same amount of state funding as its peer institutions, like Auburn University and Tuskegee University. But historically, and recently, that hasn’t happened.

A recent analysis by the United States Departments of Education and Agriculture found that in the last 30 years alone, the state has underfunded Alabama A&M University by at least half a billion dollars. And recent per-student funds continue to lag, federal data shows.

So far, state and federal funding has enabled the school to address about $18M in deferred maintenance projects, but the “need still remains high,” Spellman said.

Officials estimate that the 149-year old college would need at least $180 million more to address all of its maintenance needs.

The university is in dire need of electrical, plumbing and security upgrades, as well as erosion mitigation and roofing repairs, Spellman said. And more students means less lab space, less equipment, and a need for better broadband.

Spellman said the city’s growth has also impacted the school’s ability to retain staff. The college currently employs 778 full-time faculty and staff, but the school has recently lost several employees to higher-paying, non-academic jobs.

“They’re snatching up our accountants, our IT personnel, our police officers, our instructors and our engineers in particular,” he said.

The University of Alabama at Huntsville is also struggling to compete with high-paying tech and research jobs, officials said. The school is asking for $3 million in additional appropriations from the state to go toward salary increases and bonuses. The school requested a total overall $70.2 million appropriation, for an 8% increase in current funding.

“Huntsville’s growing big-time,” UAH Vice President for Finance and Administration Todd Barre told the commission. “So it’s just putting pressure on housing prices here, and they’re hiring anybody they can get their hands on.”

UAH currently enrolls 8,743 students.

ACHE will review budget requests and present its final recommendation in December.