Higher educational facilities face an uncertain future driven by a changing social mood and the U.S. government reshaping education nationwide, according to a recently released report. Facility managers must keep current with these emerging trends and challenges, or risk falling behind.
Gordian released its 2025 State of Facilities in Higher Education report, detailing the current trends and issues facing building operations and facility managers in postsecondary education.
The key trends being monitored, according to the report, are:
According to the report, 27 percent of schools are seeing continuing signs of expansion at a rate of 3 percent. However, most schools have settled into a multi-year rollback of expansion. The report also notes that construction is continuing and advancements in the quality of buildings used by students are improving but often while replacing older structures.
As for operations, spending was up by about 4.5 percent overall, while inflationary pressures raised target need just under 3 percent. Also, spending growth in this area has tempered somewhat, with utility expenditures decreasing by 3.3 percent while other expenses increased by about 6.3 percent. This is a drop from the prior two years when growth in daily services and planned maintenance spend were at 9 percent in 2022 and 10 percent in 2023.
Jeff Wardon, Jr., is the assistant editor of the facilities market.
