100-year-old dorm being transformed into student center, at SCC Milford Campus

MILFORD – A college campus in southeast Nebraska that’s seen a nearly 50-percent hike in student population is transforming a 100-year-old residence hall, into a student center.  The transformation of the old Nebraska Hall on the Milford Campus of Southeast Community College is one of several projects SCC has in progress or has completed.

Campus Director Ed Koster says the conversion is about an $8 million project which could be in operation, in early 2025. The building’s front staircase will be replaced and a new entrance on the north side of the building will go in. The structure is being fitted with a new elevator. The Nebraska Hall project is part renovation, part new construction.

"The first floor is kind of designed to be student union space, study labs, a coffee shop and computer lab that's open 24 hours.....places for students to hang out....kind of like the student academic support spaces in Lincoln."

The second floor of the building will include business and admissions offices, registration, records, student services and financial aid.

"The third floor is mostly about student success....a placement and testing center, career services, advising, counseling offices, accommodations. Really one of the big areas on the third floor is the testing center."

The testing center will include twenty computers…..replacing one located in a director’s house across the street which has only about eight computers. Also on the third floor will be administrative office spaces.

Because of the growth in student numbers, Koster says residence halls are currently full. In recent years, SCC built two new residence halls at Milford. A third hall is a possibility in the future. The college also continues to raise private support for a construction technology center at Milford.  Milford is the SCC Campus where the bulk of the school’s technical programs are located.