The investment needed to address facilities renewal and maintenance backlogs reached $106 per gross square foot in 2019, according to the report. This figure has steadily ticked up since 2007 and is expected to accelerate in the near future as colleges redirect facilities budgets to address pandemic-related costs.
State budget cuts could deepen these issues. Lawmakers didn’t appropriate capital funds for the University of Alaska System for fiscal 2021, despite the institution facing a $1.2 billion backlog in deferred maintenance and facilities renewal, according to a recent New America report. Budget reductions within Wyoming’s community college system are also forcing it to defer some maintenance projects.
