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How Higher Education Can Outsmart Higher Costs
Colleges and universities face tight budgets, rising costs, aging infrastructure, and staffing shortages. Along with these challenges, increasing expectations put pressure on institutions to provide efficient and well-maintained facilities, reflecting a commitment to student success and overall quality. The need to do more with less is urgent, and ABM is here to help.
While visible infrastructure spending in landscaping and new construction can help meet key goals, institutions also need solutions that tackle the direct causes of higher costs, such as deferred maintenance and outdated mechanical equipment. These hidden costs can burden budgets with increased capital volatility and unnecessary spending.
Meeting the need for both new facilities and upgrades to existing buildings can help drive student attraction and retention with:
• Better on-campus student experience
• Reportable sustainability measures
• Positive first impressions for aging campus facilities
For over a century, schools have trusted ABM to address their biggest challenges. Our team focuses on bringing innovation, efficiency, and a service mindset to your campus and community. With our range of specialized services, we work alongside your staff to provide integrated solutions that simplify operations, enhance reliability, and cut costs.
â€
The Challenge
What's standing in the way of all your facility needs? Rising costs have impacted spending priorities, while aging facilities incur ongoing costs in the form of lengthy deferred maintenance backlogs.
THE GROWING PROBLEM OF DEFERRED MAINTENANCE
• 62 years age of the average campus building
• Up to 50% higher operating costs with energy-inefficient assets
• 4% increase in costs for higher education since 2023
• 15% anticipated drop in college-going population between 2025-20293
• 90% of students say facility quality and condition impact their satisfaction and retention
• 88% of students consider facilities when enrolling
Ignoring the basic care and backlog of deferred maintenance burdens future budgets by:
• Reducing the useful life of the facilities
• Adding costs and risk of infrastructure failure to long-term balance sheets
• Compounding cost problems as it affects the student experience and public perception
Deferred maintenance also affects public perception. Prospective students have high expectations for the overall quality and benefit of higher education. Campuses must be prepared to meet them through efficient, well-maintained facilities. By investing in needed infrastructure improvements, colleges and universities can better attract and retain excellent faculty and staff.
What if it was possible to find capital to improve existing facilities without sacrifices?
Solutions
Upgrades without upfront costs
ABM offers creative financing solutions to limit capital expenditures, expediting your energy and infrastructure investments.
Uninterrupted campus performance
Our custom facilities engineering programs deliver peak performance, ensuring consistency and transparency with standardized procedures and smart reporting.
Brighter ideas and savings
ABM lighting solutions enhance safety, well-being, and energy efficiency across campus-in classrooms and on the field.
Benefits
Projected savings can help offset infrastructure investment. In some cases, it can make projects essentially cost-neutral. ABM leverages data collection to track progress and improvements which informs campus leadership decisions. Building controls and the evolving capabilities of the loT (Internet of Things) open up the outputs of facility spending and provide data-backed results clients can see, such as:
• Certifying conservation and sustainability goals
• Monitoring factors like indoor air quality and lighting levels that tie directly to student health and engagement
• Enabling predictive, preventative maintenance that extends equipment life
Planning and executing a budget-neutral solution for modern facilities requires expansive fiscal and technical expertise. ABM brings a deep bench of engineering know-how, experience managing large projects for higher education facilities, and the financial knowledge to help guarantee results.
â€
Modernized, optimized building infrastructure is within reach.
Find out how we can make it possible for you by calling 866.624.1520 or visiting ABM.com/Higher-Ed.
â€
Transcript
How Higher Education Can Outsmart Higher Costs
Colleges and universities face tight budgets, rising costs, aging infrastructure, and staffing shortages. Along with these challenges, increasing expectations put pressure on institutions to provide efficient and well-maintained facilities, reflecting a commitment to student success and overall quality. The need to do more with less is urgent, and ABM is here to help.
While visible infrastructure spending in landscaping and new construction can help meet key goals, institutions also need solutions that tackle the direct causes of higher costs, such as deferred maintenance and outdated mechanical equipment. These hidden costs can burden budgets with increased capital volatility and unnecessary spending.
Meeting the need for both new facilities and upgrades to existing buildings can help drive student attraction and retention with:
• Better on-campus student experience
• Reportable sustainability measures
• Positive first impressions for aging campus facilities
For over a century, schools have trusted ABM to address their biggest challenges. Our team focuses on bringing innovation, efficiency, and a service mindset to your campus and community. With our range of specialized services, we work alongside your staff to provide integrated solutions that simplify operations, enhance reliability, and cut costs.
â€
The Challenge
What's standing in the way of all your facility needs? Rising costs have impacted spending priorities, while aging facilities incur ongoing costs in the form of lengthy deferred maintenance backlogs.
THE GROWING PROBLEM OF DEFERRED MAINTENANCE
• 62 years age of the average campus building
• Up to 50% higher operating costs with energy-inefficient assets
• 4% increase in costs for higher education since 2023
• 15% anticipated drop in college-going population between 2025-20293
• 90% of students say facility quality and condition impact their satisfaction and retention
• 88% of students consider facilities when enrolling
Ignoring the basic care and backlog of deferred maintenance burdens future budgets by:
• Reducing the useful life of the facilities
• Adding costs and risk of infrastructure failure to long-term balance sheets
• Compounding cost problems as it affects the student experience and public perception
Deferred maintenance also affects public perception. Prospective students have high expectations for the overall quality and benefit of higher education. Campuses must be prepared to meet them through efficient, well-maintained facilities. By investing in needed infrastructure improvements, colleges and universities can better attract and retain excellent faculty and staff.
What if it was possible to find capital to improve existing facilities without sacrifices?
Solutions
Upgrades without upfront costs
ABM offers creative financing solutions to limit capital expenditures, expediting your energy and infrastructure investments.
Uninterrupted campus performance
Our custom facilities engineering programs deliver peak performance, ensuring consistency and transparency with standardized procedures and smart reporting.
Brighter ideas and savings
ABM lighting solutions enhance safety, well-being, and energy efficiency across campus-in classrooms and on the field.
Benefits
Projected savings can help offset infrastructure investment. In some cases, it can make projects essentially cost-neutral. ABM leverages data collection to track progress and improvements which informs campus leadership decisions. Building controls and the evolving capabilities of the loT (Internet of Things) open up the outputs of facility spending and provide data-backed results clients can see, such as:
• Certifying conservation and sustainability goals
• Monitoring factors like indoor air quality and lighting levels that tie directly to student health and engagement
• Enabling predictive, preventative maintenance that extends equipment life
Planning and executing a budget-neutral solution for modern facilities requires expansive fiscal and technical expertise. ABM brings a deep bench of engineering know-how, experience managing large projects for higher education facilities, and the financial knowledge to help guarantee results.
â€
Modernized, optimized building infrastructure is within reach.
Find out how we can make it possible for you by calling 866.624.1520 or visiting ABM.com/Higher-Ed.
â€
