Dive Brief:
- The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved a $1.96 billion 2019-2021 capital program that would pay for construction and physical plant projects ranging from a $3.5 million heating plant chiller and cooling tower replacement to a $300 million all-agency projects funding program.
- The capital program, according to the university, will concentrate on the repair, renovation and replacement of of campus structures built between 1950 and 1979m which make up 60% of the institution's buildings. Other planned projects include $38 million of lab and classroom renovations at several campuses; a $35 million, 366-bed residence hall renovation and upgrade at UW-Stout in Menomonie, Wisconsin; a $40.7 million renovation of the student union at the Milwaukee campus; construction of a new $83 million science center at UW-La Crosse in La Crosse, Wisconsin; and a $111 million science and technology innovation center at the university's campus in River Falls, Wisconsin.
- The board will now submit the budget to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as part of a request that he include it in his 2019-2021 biennial executive budget. In 2014, according to the Miami Herald, the university increased student fees to help fund its capital construction program.
Dive Insight:
Higher education data and analysis company Sightlines said that its 2017 report, issued in January, was the fourth one in a row that documented the trend of universities and colleges choosing to build new space at a rate faster than enrollment. In fact, the group's 2017 report, "State of Facilities in Higher Education," found that institutions of higher learning, for the 10-year period ending December 2016, grew their stock of new structures by 10% even though enrollment increased by only 8%. There is a sub-group, which the company labels as "risky," that is expanding at a rate of up to 50%, taking a chance that their current negligible or declining enrollment rates will increase in response.
This is great news for construction companies that specialize in higher education, but not-so-great news for the faculty and students that have to live and work in old buildings, and even worse news for maintenance staff that have to employ Band-Aid-type fixes to keep everything running. Research universities were the only exception, where enrollment (+14%) outpaced capital construction growth (+11%).
Some universities and colleges, just like other owners, are turning to public-private partnerships to get their new projects built. In March, Kent State University announced it would embark on a 10-year program of construction, valued at more than $1 billion, at its campus in Kent, Ohio. University officials said they would use a P3 to build a $21 million mixed-use development between the campus and downtown and maybe use a P3 to construct a $73 million business administration building.
