The Pennsylvania College of Technology board of trustees voted in unanimous approval to accept a $2 million grant from the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce during its board meeting on Thursday.

Provided that the grant is awarded to the college and all of its conditions are met, the EDA grant would require a cash match of $3 million from the college to expand its welding facility by 22,000 square feet, according to the press release from the college.

The board also voted in unanimous approval of matching the $3 million, provided that the federal grant is awarded to the college.

“This is a EDA grant that we have been working on for a little over a year,” said Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour, president of Penn College. “This is an expansion of the welding lab. This is a EDA grant that came our way.”

She said that welding is the program that filled first at the institution this year.

“We have been cramped in welding since the day we opened the stage 10 facility,” she said. “Now, you may say, ‘Well, that was poor planning.’ Not really.”

She said welding continues to take off as one of the most popular majors.

“We did a mini in-house renovation a year ago to take in an additional 15 or 20 students, and we still have more demand and a significant waiting list,” she said.

She said at times there are over 40 students on the waiting list for welding where students have to take other courses while they wait to get into the welding courses.

She said they have made it through preliminary approval of the grant, and it is going into legal reviews at the present time. In order to proceed, they needed authorization to move forward with the grant. While the grant is for $2 million and the college should match the $2 million, they anticipate needing $3 million from the college.

“It’s also a match … but you don’t see a $2 million dollar there, you see a $3 million dollar there,” Gilmour said. “The other million dollars is the funding we anticipate will be required to finish the project. EDA only pays for bricks and mortar. They don’t pay for equipment. They don’t pay for anything else…. So, those are additional things required.”

She said that they are working on getting donations for equipment.

The expansion will approximately double the size of the facility to more than 40,000 square feet when completed. Additionally, 50 more students will be able to participate each year.

The grant requires a restrictive covenant be recorded in the real estate records of Lycoming County to ensure the facility is used for welding education, according to the news release.