When the General Assembly reconvenes this week, the state's public universities will be sending legislators a wish list that probably won't get approved until months from now.

Like all state agencies, the University of North Carolina system submits a request for the next two years. The legislature will revisit the second year of requests next year during its "short" session.

The UNC system's board of governors approved a request of more than $2.8 billion in November, including nearly $404 million alone in requests for money to buy land and construct new buildings.

The state legislature pays for about 33 percent of the UNC system's budget, which was $6.4 billion last year.

The rest comes from tuition, fees, federal appropriations, grants, donations and investment income.

Though the legislature was generous to UNC last year, pas-sing 6 percent raises for faculty and approving most requests for capital improvements, early revenue projections predict a grimmer picture - up to a $500 million deficit for 2007-08 fiscal year.

Locally, campuses' capital requests and their price tags include:

? A new building for Appalachian State University's College of Education, $34 million;

? A general classroom building at N.C. A&T University, $25.8 million;

? A new library at the N.C. School of the Arts, $25 million;

? A classroom and office building at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, $45.2 million;

? A student-activities center at Winston-Salem State Uni-versity, $18.8 million (total cost is $32.5 million, the rest will be paid by an annual student fee of $185);

? Land acquisition and planning for a nanoscience and nanoengineering building for N.C. A&T and UNCG, $62.5 million.

The legislature gave many schools planning money for these projects last year, including NCSA, ASU and WSSU.

The list represents a list of priorities for each campus and reflects each campus' choice to juggle different needs.

At WSSU, for example, officials made a place for students to gather a priority before office and lab space. Growing en-rollment has put a strain on both. Some faculty are working in temporary offices in trailers while the campus' former science building, Hill Hall, sits vacant even though the uni-versity expects to hire 95 new faculty members next year.

WSSU is asking for $735,800 to plan the building's renovation, but not until next year, and the request is way down the UNC system's long, expensive list.

"Hill Hall came after we had made that a priority," said Rob-ert Botley, WSSU's vice chancellor for finance and administration. "At this point, with the number of students that we have, we need a place for those students to be. Our goal, since we are housing some 2,000 students (in dorms), we need somewhere for them to go."

• Laura Giovanelli can be reached at 727-7302 or at lgiovanelli@wsjournal.com