Keeping Up

Higher Education Sector Surges As Enrollments Rise

By Jim Parsons

More than 20 years after the last baby boomers picked up their college degrees, the nation’s higher education institutions are witnessing another tidal wave of students.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s latest Digest of Education Statistics, issued in July, U.S. colleges and universities enrolled a record 17.5 million students in fall 2005, with approximately 10% of them attending public and private institutions in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

There are more are on the way.

The Digest projects another 13% increase in enrollment by 2015.

And even though studies have found that facilities do influence where students decide to further their education, it appears to be business as usual in the higher education sector for many of the region’s design and construction firms.

“Today’s students are more demanding because they know they have more choice,” says Tom Fantacone, principal for design at Fletcher Thompson of New Brunswick, N.J. “They and their parents want attractive, technology-friendly places for living and learning. To compete for them, schools are finding that the ‘wow factor’ is as important as strong academics.”

Nick Garrison, design lead for educational practice at RMJM Hillier, Princeton, N.J., says the sector has become more visible, due in part to announcements of major donations for high-profile projects, but, “in terms of project activity, the level is about the same.”

Robert Buxbaum, marketing director for TDX Construction of New York, agrees.

“The public side is rather slow at the moment,” he says, adding that his firm is preparing to start a 98,000-sq ft library and classroom building at Bronx Community College in spring 2008.“It’s somewhat unusual because schools have been doing a lot of work over the last 12 years.”

John Scaramozza, senior vice president of Fusco Corp., a New Haven, Conn.-based construction and property management firm, says the same is true in Connecticut. Scaramozza says that despite the prospect of new work under broad programs such as University of Connecticut’s 11-year, $1 billion infrastructure improvement initiative, “we have yet to see any RFPs from them or the four-campus Connecticut State University system.”

Spending smarts

One explanation may be the continuing disparity between construction costs and state higher education capital improvement budgets.

“It’s a struggle for everyone because we have no control over things,” Fantacone says. “We do what we can to stay on track with the design, but it’s easy to get derailed because of costs and contractors who are busy with projects in other sectors.”

Scaramozza says large universities such as Yale rarely have difficulty moving forward with major facilities projects, such as the upcoming renovation of the school’s historic 600,000-sq-ft Payne Whitney Gymnasium, but private and smaller schools do face problems.

“Smaller colleges have master plans, but aren’t rushing them out to market,” he adds.  “They have to raise money for them.”

Garrison says there is a growing disparity between “have” and “have not” schools.

“The poorer ones are hanging on for dear life,” he adds. “Their facilities are in bad shape, but they can’t afford to do anything.”

Regardless of the funding source, most colleges and universities are looking for buildings that will bolster their teaching and research capabilities in lab sciences, engineering and anything computer- and biomedical-related.

And while students may see specialization as the key to postgraduate success, colleges and universities are trying to make the facilities that train them as versatile as possible.

“As the cost of construction materials and labor continues to rise, efficient space becomes paramount,” says Joe Ienuso, Columbia University’s executive vice president of facilities.“We need to get the most out of every dollar spent.”

Ienuso adds that while discipline-specific buildings, especially in the sciences, are being replaced with facilities that can support a variety of uses, the trend is indicative of the more interdisciplinary nature of the sciences themselves.

“Now, you have investigators from different parts of the university working literally shoulder to shoulder on projects,” he says. “The facilities need to support a higher level of collaboration.”

TDX’s Buxbaum says the inherent complexities of these facilities are rarely problematic once construction begins because nearly every type of higher education building is likely to be technology intensive.

“Our challenge is to stay focused on technology changes and be able to adjust to them,” he says. “We can no longer specify and purchase certain materials early because schools want to avoid purchasing equipment too early and risk it becoming obsolete before the building opens.”

Expanding enrollments have also led schools to expand their inventory of on-campus housing facilities.

For example, a new 199-student residence hall with program and fitness facilities will be part of a $75 million construction program at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.

“While we have resources to draw on, costs and schedule remain a big issue,” says Patricia Swannack, Monmouth’s vice president for administrative services. “We may look at modular construction as an option for our residence halls.”

Graduating to green

Swannack adds that Monmouth’s program will also embody perhaps the most pervasive higher education building trend—sustainable design.

“It’s embedded in our entire building program, both for new construction and renovations,” she says. She adds that the school has retrofitted numerous mechanical and lighting systems to improve energy efficiency and incorporated solar power to help supplement the campus power grid.

There are other important reasons for going green, Fletcher Thompson’s Fantacone says. “Today’s students are savvy about this issue and want to attend a school that’s thinking along the same lines. That includes updating existing campus buildings as well.”

One such effort is Columbia University’s 17-acre Manhattanville expansion master plan.Developed by the University, with architects Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the 25-year blueprint will apply new urbanism and green building design principles to transform the currently underutilized blocks into a 6.8-million-sq-ft urban academic community. Manhattanville will also be the pilot project for the U.S. Green Building Council’s new LEED-Neighborhood Development standard.

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 “The emphasis on sustainable design in higher education is here to stay, but you can’t do it 200,000 sq ft at a time,” the university’s Ienuso says. “Manhattanville provides us with a vision for the neighborhood, and an integrated strategy to achieve it.”

That project is currently in the master planning stage.

To help move these projects forward, colleges and universities will seek separate but distinct skills from their design and construction partners.

“Though not an absolute requirement, experience in higher education and related areas is enormously helpful for A/E and professional services firms,” Ienuso says.  “We look to construction managers more for problem-solving abilities—managing the trades, getting it built, and addressing site-specific issues.”