SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif- A bright idea to switch the lighting at Cuesta College is going to save the college big bucks. The school is expecting to save about 1 million dollars over the next 15 years, money the school could use to help with its ailing budget woes.
"Most of this campus was built in the 70's and 80's and so from an energy efficiency stand point we are in major need of retrofitting," said Dr. Gil Stork, President of Cuesta College.
The energy efficient lights cost 425-thousand to spruce up Cuesta College, but the school said the return is worth it. "We won't see actual new dollars in our budget until 3 years out and then we will see a net savings of about 90-thousand dollars a year for 15 years," said Dr. Stork.
The savings comes out to about 1-million dollars for the college. How they plan to use that money is still undecided. "Unless we pass a bond in the next three years it will be used to continue renovation and modernizing the college," said Dr. Stork. The money is needed; the school has made serious sacrifices over the years due to budget cuts.
"By eliminating departments, merging departments, reducing positions and eliminating staff unfortunately," said Dr. Stork. On top of that, the school has had a rocky time with keeping its accreditation status, but Dr. Stork said the school has made a master plan to keep their doors open to students for years to come. "Cuesta College has made significant progress in improvements and we are very close to finishing the deal so the threat of Cuesta being closed is absolutely not a reality," said Dr. Stork.
The college expects to have all the lights done by the end of the month, and the new ones are expected to last 15 years.
