Upgrades and additions to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus are becoming less of a reality as the state budget remains unresolved.

UW-Oshkosh has been planning a campus expansion for six years, but one thing is currently stopping the construction: the state budget.

Wisconsin is the only state that has not passed a new state budget, leaving UW-Oshkosh wondering about the future of their campus, according to Tom Sonnleitner, vice chancellor for administrative services for UW-Oshkosh.

According to Sonnleitner, the expansion includes a new academic building, a revamped student services center and a new suite-style residence hall.

Sonnleitner said that the new building would help with the shortage of space on campus.

"The sizes and kinds of classrooms are what is holding us back," Sonnleitner said.

State Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, is a proponent of the expansion.

"The facilities are outdated, and we should be providing a better learning environment," Hintz said.

The new building would be 200,000 square feet, energy and environmental design-certified green and cost $48 million dollars, Sonnleitner said, with alumni donations that would account for $8 million of the project.

Sonnleitner said this project would bring the first new academic building built on the UW-Oshkosh campus since 1971.

"It is very expensive to reconfigure and renovate old buildings," Sonnleitner said.

Sonnleitner said that both the Assembly and the Senate are in favor of the building, but added, "Nothing’s over until it's over."

The enrollment at UW-Oshkosh is expected to increase by 10 percent in the next six years, which means faculty and space will also have to increase, Sonnleitner said, adding that UW-Oshkosh "can't increase the student body if we have no place to put them."

With the additional space, UW-Oshkosh would be able to admit more students, Sonnleitner said.

"There would be more access to traditional students that are entering college out of high school and adults over 24 that come back to school," Sonnleitner said.

Sonnleitner said it is important for Wisconsin to have more people with degrees because the state has one of the nation’s lowest numbers of residents over the age of 25 with bachelor's degrees.

"Bachelor degrees [are needed] to prepare citizens to compete in the economic world," Sonnleitner said.

Besides the proposed academic building, UW-Oshkosh is hoping to build a $35 million suite-style residence hall.

"This is not a lavish building; just more apartment-style than the outdated dorms," Sonnleitner said. "That is what students are asking for, and that is what will help us compete with other schools."

Even though the students who live in it would cover the cost of the new residence hall, the state has to first authorize the funding for the building to begin construction, Hintz said.

"[I'm] concerned we're going to have a tough time getting a budget done at all, given some of the rhetoric I've heard," Hintz said. "[We] can't have a first-class university system with a second-class budget."

Sen. Carol Roessler, R-Oshkosh, declined comment on the proposed plan.