Note: Louisiana legislators will decide what to do with a significant surplus of cash available to the state in the next legislative session in March. Ahead of the session, The Reveille is dedicating a string of stories looking at LSU’s infrastructure. This is the fifth story in the ongoing series.
No matter which way you slice it, LSU has some of the most significant deferred maintenance needs in Louisiana.
LSU is the largest university in the state in terms of campus size and student population, so direct comparisons of total maintenance backlog costs between LSU and smaller Louisiana schools doesn’t paint a full picture.
With over 35,000 students, LSU has nearly three times as many students as the next largest school, Louisiana Tech, which has over 12,000 students.
LSU also has a much larger campus than most schools, totaling over 15 million square feet. More room means more stuff to break. Most public universities in Louisiana have fewer than 4 million square feet in floor space, with several under 1 million.
There are 17 public universities in Louisiana, eight of which The Reveille was able to collect data from. The school’s deferred maintenance needs are broken down into cost per student and cost per square foot of each campus. LSU still comes out with the most pressing needs.
Breaking it down
Louisiana State University
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Total deferred maintenance needs: $636,808,794
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Cost per square foot: $42
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Cost per student: $18,089
Southeastern Louisiana University
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Total deferred maintenance needs: $63,667,000
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Cost per square foot: $20
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Cost per student: $14,029
Louisiana State University Shreveport
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Total deferred maintenance needs: $18,000,000
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Cost per square foot: $26
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Cost per student: $2,113
Northwestern State University
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Total deferred maintenance needs: $29,758,000
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Cost per square foot: $36
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Cost per student: $3,305
University of New Orleans
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Total deferred maintenance needs: $54,664,350
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Cost per square foot: $17
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Cost per student: $7,928
Nicholls State University
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Total deferred maintenance needs: $52,794,836
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Cost per square foot: $31
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Cost per student: $9,304
Grambling State University
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Total deferred maintenance needs: $39,875,000
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Cost per square foot: $19
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Cost per student: $7,332
Louisiana Tech
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Total deferred maintenance needs: $50,000,000
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Cost per square foot: $15
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Cost per student: $4,027
Building it up
While LSU would need a cool $640 million to clear its deferred maintenance backlog, there are a couple other factors to take into consideration.
One is that the total is growing every year. Roger Husser, assistant vice president for Planning, Design and Construction said that the total grows by about $20 million every year.
Another factor is that the deferred maintenance backlog is not intended to be fully cleared. Some buildings that need maintenance will end up demolished. Others will end up replaced.
The LSU Library currently needs over $30 million in deferred maintenance, but it’s likely to be demolished and replaced before much of those needs are addressed.
Of course, a new library will cost a lot more than $30 million, but that money would most likely come from separate funding sources.
Gov. John Bel Edwards presented his budget proposal on Jan. 24, which included a proposal for $108 million for deferred maintenance. While that money would go to deferred maintenance projects across the state —and not just to ones on college campuses— commissioner of administration Jay Dardenne said a significant portion of that would likely go to higher education institutions.
That is assuming that the $108 million gets approved by the Republican-controlled legislature, which has final say on the budget.
Dardenne gave more details on Edwards’ budget on Jan. 25 to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. He said that the committee has previously declined to use these one-time funds for deferred maintenance, but urges them to approve it this time.
“Every time that we fail to meet a deferred maintenance obligation, it is just increasing the price that we’re going to pay down the line,” Dardenne said.
Even if the legislature doesn’t approve the full $108 million, schools are likely to get some funds from the state for deferred maintenance. LSU received $5 million last year.
That $5 million, a small drop in the bucket LSU’s needs, paid for 12 of over 7,000 projects on the deferred maintenance list, including replacing the roof on Nicholson Hall, coating the roof on the LSU Library and paying for part of the studio arts building renovations.
It’s worth noting that despite the $450,000-coating for the roof of the library, other roof repairs costing $850,000 remain on the university’s deferred maintenance priority list. On top of that, 49 other projects related to the library require attention.
How much LSU will receive this year, and what that money will go to, remains to be seen.
