In early December, Boston College announced that over the course of the next 10 years, the school will institute a $1.6 billion expansion plan. The Institutional Master Plan includes the hiring of 100 new faculty members and more housing for undergraduate students.

“We have had major housing shortages for the past few years, so we definitely need more housing somewhere. I just found out last week that I need to live off campus next year,” said Brian Gwozdz, a junior at Boston College.

The plan also calls for four new academic buildings, including an Institute for Liberal Arts and another for Integrated Sciences, and more than a dozen other centers and institutes, including more space for the fine arts and for students.

Along with that, the school also plans to build new intercollegiate and intramural athletic fields and recreational facilities.

Some of the land for the planned expansion is coming from the Boston Archdiocese, which sold the school 65 acres of land.

“I just can’t imagine how the university will look in ten years,” Gwozdz said. “When I look at the map of the expansion, a lot of the major buildings on campus are in different places or on Brighton. It will be a very different campus.”

The school is hoping to have much of the construction finished by its 150th anniversary in 2013.

According to the BC expansion Web site, $800 million will go towards construction and renovations on the campus, $300 million of the construction will go towards academic buildings and another $43.5 million per year will go towards new academic programs.

The school is getting money from various places to fund this new project, including $52 million in annual grants, $95 million from alumni and BC’s endowment, which stands at $1.75 billion.

“We are a strong university that wants to become even stronger,” said Rev. William Leahy, BC’s president, in an Associated Press article.

The plan has been in the making for two years, stemming from a study that included over 200 students, faculty and administrators from the school. Together, they put forth seven “strategic directions” for the school to strive for, some of which include becoming a leader in education, student formation, creating research that handles problems of society and promoting the school’s religious background.

“Each offers the possibility of distinguishing Boston College from its peers,” wrote Leahy on the college’s Web site.

As of right now, BC is No. 35 in “US News and World Report” for top US schools, yet they are ranked fourth in number of applicants.

“It’s a really ambitious plan. I think Brighton Campus will help to push BC into the top tier of American universities,” said Gwozdz, referring to the large swath of land BC recently acquired.

The Institutional Master Plan will also have benefits outside of boosting BC’s rankings among other US schools. In the plan that BC had to file with Boston Redevelopment Authority, there was mention of the economic and community impacts, which included references to employment during the expansion, as well as more revenue for local businesses.

Although the 10-year plan has only recently been put into action, there has already been more long-term planning for the school.

According to the BC Web site, a long-term campus vision plan has already started to develop, looking into the future another 30 to 50 years. It all starts with the plans for these next 10 years. Emily Reynolds can be reached at [email protected].