FARGO (AP) - The state Board of Higher Education will consider proposals this week to replace or remodel the homes of the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State presidents.

NDSU President Joseph Chapman's house is outdated and needs extensive work, the university foundation says.

The NDSU Development Foundation proposes spending up to $900,000 in private donations to build an addition to the home and to renovate the existing part.

Chapman asked the foundation to put his house on the back burner, but foundation trustees want to move forward with the improvements, said Keith Bjerke, NDSU's vice president for university relations.

In Grand Forks, the UND Foundation proposes spending $900,000 in donations to raze the president's home and build a new one. The foundation says the president's home is 50 years old and soon will require extensive renovation.

If approved, construction would begin this fall with completion set for July 2008, coinciding with the start date for a new president. Current President Charles Kupchella is retiring.

UND spokesman Peter Johnson said the president needs a better home for entertaining.

"It's definitely a facility that has been a good house for the university, but it's done its service," Johnson said.

The Higher Education board meets Thursday in Minot.

Improving the NDSU president's house has been discussed among foundation trustees since the early 1990s, before Chapman became president.

The issue came up again last year during the flap with former Chancellor Robert Potts that prompted an attorney general's investigation into a possible open meetings violation.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said several people he interviewed said Chapman demanded more pay and better housing as conditions to stay at NDSU. At the time, Chapman was a finalist for a job in Wyoming.

Chapman denied making the demands and said he told the foundation there should be no improvements to the house under his term.

Bjerke said it is the foundation, not Chapman, that is driving the proposal for better housing.

Jim Miller, executive director of the NDSU Development Foundation, has said the nearly 60-year-old house is small and was built before entertaining was part of the president's job.

The garage is too small to accommodate Chapman's vehicle and the basement is "a concrete jungle of leaky pipes" that has flooded twice, Bjerke said.

The plan is to spend up to $800,000 to build new living quarters for the home and convert the existing space to an entertaining area. Another $100,000 would be available for contingencies, Bjerke said.