Tackling the Deferred Maintenance Crisis
Five Things Every Institutional Leader Should Know About the Campus Threat and Strategies to Improve
Ann Forman Lippens, Managing Director, Research
Colleges and universities face daunting deferred maintenance backlogs. Budget shortfalls are only amplifying the issue, and maintenance needs have begun to impact the student experience, impair critical research efforts, and ultimately prevent institutions from achieving their strategic goals.
Our briefing outlines five insights campus leaders should keep in mind when navigating deferred maintenance decisions.
1. Deferred maintenance is not just a Facilities problem—it affects everyone
Deferred maintenance has been a top priority for facilities leaders for decades. As institutions face aging buildings and growing maintenance backlogs, tackling deferred maintenance has increasingly become a primary concern for boards, presidents, academic leaders, and students. The growing attention on deferred maintenance is unsurprising given that maintenance issues affect all areas of campus. Unaddressed capital needs have a direct impact on the ability of other leaders to recruit students or attract star faculty critical to research excellence.
2. Capital renewal needs are more complicated than a single backlog number
Most institutions can point to a single number that represents their deferred maintenance backlog. This figure roughly approximates all projects a campus must complete to return various infrastructure components (like roofs and foundations) and building systems (like plumbing and HVAC) to “like-new” condition.
“It’s a whole lot better to get $10 million a year for 10 years than to get nothing for nine years and then have $100 million dumped on you all at once.”
–Â Dennis Bailey, Senior Associate VP, Facilities, Florida State University
3. Diminishing Facilities resources have fueled growing backlogs
Nearly all institutions face declining revenues due to changes in enrollment, public support, research funding, and debt capacity. Unfortunately, tightening budgets have negatively impacted Facilities units the most.
At public institutions, every spending category has risen above its pre-recession level—except plant operations and maintenance (O&M) spending, which has dropped 8% since 1987. At private institutions, plant O&M has grown at less than 1% each year, the slowest pace compared to the other categories.
4. While daunting, the backlog is surmountable
Addressing a growing deferred maintenance backlog represents one of the single greatest challenges facing most campuses. However, there are a select number of institutions that have achieved zero (or close to zero) deferred maintenance. And while not every strategy will be replicable for each institution, these campuses offer pieces of a roadmap that others can pursue.
5. EAB has a suite of resources to help you address your backlog
Progressive institutions offer a number of lessons on how higher education can begin to turn the tanker and address the deferred maintenance backlog. To equip institutions with the information they need, the Facilities Forum offers multiple resources.
- Addressing Increasingly Complex Deferred Maintenance Decisions: Six lessons to improve planning, prioritization, and executive communication
- Capital Renewal Funding Playbook: Access 100 tactics to fund deferred maintenance projects
- Shifting the Balance from Reactive to Preventive Maintenance: Best practices to eliminate common timesinks and reprioritize critical preventive maintenance tasks
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