Although the HUB aquarium is not in imminent danger, one volunteer organizer said Tuesday funding for the popular Penn State landmark is likely to run out in a few years -- and that could mean closing the aquarium.

However, the Class of 2010 has been given the opportunity to fund the landmark through an endowment for its class gift. This is the first effort made to find a new source of funding for the aquariums, said Jordan Ford, the senior class gift adviser and assistant director of the Office of Annual Giving.

"This is not an ultimatum," he said. "But if it wins the class gift, we're off to a good start."

A class gift from the Class of 1999, the aquarium ended up costing more to construct than organizers had expected. After construction left too little cash behind to establish an endowment, organizers instead instituted a spend-down account.

The leftover money has been used to maintain the aquarium for the past 10 years, along with a donation from the Eberly College of Science. The college currently gives $5,000 per year to maintain the aquariums.

But now, the money generated in the 1999 class gift for maintenance of the aquariums is running out.

"If there isn't money, there won't be an aquarium in the end," said Sanjay Joshi, volunteer organizer for the HUB aquariums and a professor of industrial engineering. "We're nervous in the sense that the university is going to try to get money from other places."

Joshi proposed the aquarium endowment as a senior class gift.

"Students responded very well the first time, so it's possible they'll respond the same way the second time around," Ford said, adding that the aquariums have been one of the more successful class gifts.

Some seniors said they really like the gift idea.

"If we were to lose it, we would lose a central meeting point on campus," Ester Fares (senior-biochemistry and molecular biology) said. "It's a huge part of the HUB."

The aquarium endowment would be for as much as the class can raise, Ford said, marking $175,000 as a high estimate. Class gifts typically raise about $160,000 to $180,000 in funding, although $120,000 is a "safe estimate" of the amount of funding for the gift, Ford wrote in an e-mail.

More money could be generated though investment of the original endowment, Ford said.

That said, if the aquarium endowment is not selected as the class gift, the aquariums are in no immediate danger for the next few years, he said.

"If this doesn't happen, I think everything would be fine and we would find a way to keep the aquariums open and alive," Ford said.

Joshi said the aquariums add value to the university.

"You get to see part of the world you don't otherwise get to see, especially in a landlocked state," he said. He particularly appreciates their beauty and presentation of the diversity of life.

Several classes utilize the aquariums for class-related projects and labs, and local public schools often take field trips to observe the aquatic life.

As a part of the advising committee, Ford said he works to preserve class gifts, along with the Office of the Physical Plant.

"Obviously, this is a student project, so the preservation of the gifts are very, very sensitive to students," Ford said. "It's important to maintain traditions."