Union under construction

Center renovates facilities, prepares Welcome Weekend events, concert for students

The Union will look a bit different than it has in the past with new businesses and facility updates, Union Director Jim Sheppard said. There are a few changes in the Union that students will notice.

• A branch of the MSU Federal Credit Union will take over an area once occupied by the Student Alumni Foundation.

• Blimpie, LaVincita and Grill 155 restaurants in the food court have closed, and McAlister's Deli and Qdoba Mexican Grill will be brought in.

• The third floor Illinois and Northwestern conference rooms will be renovated and used as admissions welcome rooms for prospective students.

• All computers and elevators will be replaced.

Although the Union is undergoing many renovations and bringing in popular restaurants, mechanical engineering senior Ashley Jones said that because of its location, she probably won't be stopping by.

"I used to use the Union all the time my freshman and sophomore year when I lived in West Circle," she said. "I used to eat there for Sunday dinners a lot. But now, I don't live anywhere near there."

The Union is stuck in a very rough stage of construction, Sheppard said.

"We're racing to get these things built before our opening welcome event on the 25th," he said.

The university's annual U-Fest takes place the Friday of Welcome Weekend. During U-Fest, free activities are presented by the University Activities Board, or UAB, to acclimate new and returning students to the Union and its facilities, and also gives students something to do, said Tami Kuhn, manager of the University Activities Office. The university and the city of East Lansing also teamed up to present students with a free concert on Adams Field the night of U-Fest, Kuhn said.

Adams Field, which is located across from West Circle Complex, will have a fence surrounding it during the concert. The concert is scheduled to start with an opening act at 11:30 p.m., and the gates will open at 10 p.m. Kuhn said the contract with the headlining act hasn't been signed, so the artist couldn't be confirmed, but if all goes as planned, students can expect a familiar name.

"It's an artist who is on the Billboard Hot 100 list and rising, so we're pretty excited about that," she said.

Kuhn said UAB and the city decided to offer the concert during Welcome Weekend to please students, not to cut down on East Lansing partying.

"This is an effort to provide entertainment students have asked for, and if an added benefit of that is maybe the neighborhoods are less busy, that's fine," she said.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.