It’s not just going to college that can be expensive. Maintaining a campus is pricey, too.
Ohio’s public colleges are getting some help with that. State lawmakers are shelling out about $415.8 million to four-year public universities and community colleges specifically to improve their infrastructure and buildings — think things such as ceiling repairs and HVAC upgrades.
These might not be the sexiest improvements, but they’re necessary, especially as the state’s colleges age.
This money comes via the state’s recently passed capital budget. It contains $3.5 billion in appropriations for the next two fiscal years. Colleges made requests to the state for these action items. Some of these projects are already underway and have additional funding sources.
Lawmakers didn’t grant all of the requests in full. Plus, the Ohio Department of Higher Education got an additional $58.9 million in addition to what individual institutions received.
Read on to see how a few colleges plan to spend their shares of capital cash. These details come from a published analysis produced by the state’s legislative budget commission.
Cleveland State University: $15.8 million
Lawmakers will give Cleveland State $10.5 million to improve its HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems. The analysis pointed out most of those systems have reached “severe levels of deterioration” and frequently break down. These renovations will happen in three phases and are estimated to total $45.5 million.
About $1.3 million will contribute to a campus-wide safety and security project. The project prioritizes replacing doors to make them more handicapped-accessible and adding new security cameras in key areas such as parking lots and common spaces. This push is expected to cost nearly $5 million in total.
Cuyahoga Community College: $14.4 million
Tri-C’s funding will stretch across six projects. Nearly half will go towards basic renovations. Those could include things such as repaving parking lots, renovating drains and general remodeling.
Other efforts will include upgrading signs to help people navigate buildings better, replacing aging servers powering some of the college’s security systems and renovating the college’s Corporate College campuses.
Among Ohio’s two-year colleges, only Columbus State received more funding ($16.9 million) than Tri-C.
Ohio State University: $78.8 million
The Buckeye State’s flagship institution got the highest amount of funding. Most will go towards the main campus in Columbus, but four regional campuses across the state and its agricultural center in Wooster will get small chunks, too.
Roughly $19 million is earmarked to rehabilitate deteriorating drain and tunnel ceilings as well as replacing sewer water and stormwater lines at its main campus.
Some of the university’s regional campuses — including Lima and Marion — will use this money to update administrative and classroom buildings that are more than 50 years old.
University of Akron: $17.2 million
One of the University of Akron’s biggest projects got an injection of money. The Polsky Building is set to receive $6 million to update its aging elevators and HVAC system. In 2022, the Knight Foundation gave UA $20 million to help revamp (and eventually rename) the building, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
The state is also contributing $5 million to an ongoing effort to renovate or replace unsafe walkways, steps and ramps across the Akron campus. The capital budget did not allocate any money to UA’s other campuses in Orrville, Lakewood, and Medina.
Kent State University: $30.3 million
Kent State University’s main campus in Kent is getting the bulk — about $28.4 million — of its allocation.
About $6 million is set to help further update the university’s main library, including by giving it a high-speed elevator. Plus, the university plans to use roughly $4 million to renovate elevators in other campus buildings to make them more accessible for people with disabilities.
Seven of Kent State’s regional locations will split the rest of this money. More than $650,000 at its Stark campus will go towards replacing the 20-year-old water chilling system, for example, while about $326,000 will be used to update emergency exit systems at the main classroom building at the Geauga campus.
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