The cumulative capacity of American colleges grew by 26 percent between fiscal years 2009 and 2019, according to federal data compiled for a report released this past year by EY-Parthenon, a consulting company, while enrollment increased by only 3 percent. Meanwhile, the annual cost to colleges of carrying the resulting 3 million to 5 million excess seats, and extra personnel, the report’s authors write, could be as high as $50 billion.

Now, higher education’s physical campuses sit at the edge of a sea change that promises generational transformation, according to a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Instances of colleges substantially shrinking their physical footprints remain rare. Out of several hundred institutions working with the construction and consulting firm Gordian, only five have reduced their square footage by 5 percent or more, the magazine writes.

All that space is costing money — not only millions of dollars to construct facilities, but and millions more to run and maintain them. As a structure nears the end of its useful life, which typically comes after about 25 or 30 years, it may cost millions more to renovate it or tear it down and replace it, according to The Chronicle. If a building is going to need a new roof or new plumbing to keep operating, that looming cost contributes to the rolling total known as deferred maintenance, a figure that facilities managers keep in mind like a senior citizen might know his or her bad-cholesterol number.

When Gary Ward, facilities manager at the University of Missouri, arrived at the campus in 2005, the annual budget for facilities maintenance was about $15 million, but the university had deferred-maintenance needs of about $28 million a year. The Chronicle quotes him as saying: “We knew we had to start doing something significant to get the blood flow stopped.”

During spring 2021, after several years of looking at audit data, the university announced that it would be tearing down nine buildings, most of them dating from the 19th or early 20th century, and not replacing them with new buildings or additional square footage. Read Hall, for example, was built as a women’s dormitory in 1903 and currently houses the history department. Its audit revealed it needed interior structural work, increased accessibility, new fire-alarm and -suppression systems, and upgrades to electrical, plumbing and other systems. Renovating Read Hall would cost an estimated $3.8 million, while replacing it would cost $6.4 million, the magazine writes.

There are ways to shed space besides the wrecking ball. Colleges may look to sell buildings that are not strategically close to campus, or end agreements on leased space. They may seek out partnerships with local companies and deals with private capital to finance construction projects that diffuse cost and risk. Many colleges are asking themselves, “How can we better insulate ourselves from any space that we’re carrying that is not really core to the mission and purpose of the university?”

Then again, sparkling new facilities often make an impression when prospective students tour a campus, a special concern at schools that struggle to meet enrollment goals.

Perhaps no aspect of college facilities is under closer scrutiny in the wake of COVID-19 than office space, according to The Chronicle. Offices make up the largest block of space on some campuses — as much as 40 percent. It’s the area of facilities where, arguably, leaders can make the biggest impact without affecting mission. It’s also the area of facilities facing the biggest uncertainty.

Like many other workplaces, colleges were forced to work remotely and found not only that it could be done, but that some employees preferred the arrangement. As colleges began bringing administrators and other office workers back to campus, business-as-usual seemed inadequate. If quiet, heads-down work can be easily done at home.

The Chronicle observes: Shrinking a college isn’t an easy sell. Brian Yolitz, vice chancellor for facilities for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, has had private conversations with Minnesota state legislators who’ve expressed a fear. “They’ll say, ‘You know, if we tear that down, we’ll never get it back,’” he says. “Or, ‘if we replace it with smaller square footage, that sends a message that we’re contracting,’ and that’s not a message you want to send to our local community.”

This article was excerpted from a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Read the full article at this link: https://bit.ly/3tGTKB7