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I know this may not occur when the page is actually coded but in the footer, the line beginning "Campus Facilities & Student Services" breaks the bounds of the main content container.
Concerning the grey-black band mentioned by Zamberson, why is that there in the first place? Is it related to the black box with the 3 images with captions? If that is the case I understand why you'd include the black band but on the right side, it doesn't connect because of the list "Upcoming Previews". Honestly, I think it should go.
Other than those two things, I think this design is great improvement compared to the current one. It's a clean and organized. I gave your design a 3 because it's not set apart from other educational websites. To me your design definitely says, "This is a website for an educational institute." It's not a bad thing, though!
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No worries on the rating for the aesthetics for the design. The objective is really functional and more on information architecturing. I'll be the first to admit that its definitely not wholly original. But as you've mentioned, as an educational institute, it still has to convey a certain sense of professionalism and authority.
As with Zamberson, off with the black band!