The building is now called the Multipurpose Athletic and Recreation Center, but the college doesn't think much of that name, spokesman Tim Kelly said.
"This may be the first time that a college is giving naming rights to a building by holding a raffle," he said. "You don't have to be a millionaire to have your name permanently on a building. All you have to do is buy a ticket for $1,000 and have that ticket win."
The college came up with the idea "because we just don't have benefactors handing us millions of dollars," Kelly said. The largest contribution the college has received was $220,000 from a health-care foundation for scholarships for students studying health-care disciplines, he said.
All money raised from the raffle will go toward scholarships. While Stockton's state funding has decreased in the last several years, the need for scholarships has risen, Kelly said.
Of this year's $57 million budget, about $28 million, or 49 percent, comes from state funding. In 1990, the state's contribution was 70 percent of the budget, Kelly said.
Currently, tuition for a full-time student at Stockton is $4,400.
The college will have the final say on the name.
"We don't want people to get too carried away in naming the new building," Kelly said.
FOR MORE INFORMATION For details on the raffle to name Richard Stockton College's athletic complex, call 609-652-4789.
