University President Michael Adams welcomed state legislators to campus Wednesday and outlined some of the University’s financial needs.

In the Senate Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee meeting, Adams and 19 other college and university presidents shared their institutions’ progress, financial needs and gratitude for state funds.

Adams told the subcommittee it has been a positive year for the University.

“Private giving is up . research funding is up, applications are up and we beat Florida and Auburn in the same year,” he said.

But Adams said the University needs money to increase instruction space, do maintenance work and build a special collections library.

He said the University lacks 1.2 million square feet of resident instruction space, which would cost about $400 million to add.

Danny Sniff, associate vice president of facilities planning, said this space is funded by the state

and mostly includes classrooms and academic buildings.

Adams said the University has documented $300 million in maintenance costs. The biggest need is the $83.5 million electrical system repairs.

Adams called the requests “serious,” and encouraged the legislators to consider these needs.

Adams also cited a special collections library as one of the University’s needs. He said the building will be funded by $15 million in private donations and $30 million from the state.

About $11 million of the private donations have been raised but Adams said the rest of the money will come when the state approves the funds.

“When funding for a project takes six or eight years to get through the state process, it is difficult to convince donors to give,” Adams said. “They want to see a more immediate return on their investment.”

Adams noted the percentage of state funding has decreased during the last decade. State funding used to make up 43 percent of the University’s budget, and now accounts for 33 percent.

Adams said the University has funded the difference with increases in research funding, private gifts and auxiliary funds.