The Holmes Student Center space problem might be relieved with a new student life center, but who will pay for the 45,000-square-foot addition raises another question.

Barbara Henley, vice president for student affairs, said the Student Center Space Study Committee last week recommended the addition to NIU President John La Tourette as a solution to NIU’s two-year space problem. The addition will somehow be attached to the student center, but details need to be worked out.

The addition might house NIU’s Career Planning and Placement Center, Counseling and Student Development Center, Office of University Programming and Activities or cooperative education.

However, the addition’s estimated $3 to $5.9 million price tag and Student Association opposition to student fee increases has left the committee unsure of where to pass the hat.

SA President and committee member Huda Scheidelman was quoted earlier as saying she was “in complete opposition” to the center if student fees are used to fund it.

Scheidelman said, however, that some fee money might be used. “I was only against the addition if the total burden is to be placed on the students. There is definitely a need for new space,” she said.

“The university is going to make every effort to see that this is funded creatively,” Henley said.

Because regulations prohibit state funding for non-academic buildings, NIU will have to sell bonds to finance the addition, Henley said.

However, bond repayment is supported partly through student fees. Henley said one possible solution might be refinancing the bonds already issued for the student center, similar to a second mortgage on a house.

Henley said funding talks are still in early stages and might require a “couple of years” to find an acceptable solution.

The recommendation for a student life building will remain intact until the the money is found, Henley said.