Crumbling Campuses

The latest issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education has a sobering article on the exacerbating effects of recessionary pressures on maintenance budgets at North American Colleges and Universities. Take a look at http://goo.gl/yp3JC.

Let's say you live in a $200,000 house. Are you setting aside $4,000 to $8,000 per year to address the inevitable expenses?  My guess is not. You just struggle with tapping into savings when the roof has to be replaced.

Now, put yourself into the shoes of the local College president who has to look after  hundreds of 'houses', all with a replacement cost of 6, 7, 8 or even 9 figures.  To further extend the analogy, imagine that you have no 'savings'.  Decades of underspending are approaching catastrophic on some campuses.

It used to be that some amount of Capital Renewal with new construction, renovation and replacement was offsetting the accumulating deferrals, but recent budgets have curtailed those expenditures as well. What does the future hold? I hope it's not the educational version of a bridge falling down, but my fear is that's what it will take to force some readjustment.