Annual Facilities Report

Each year, the Board of Regents approves the annual facilities report, which includes information on all facilities across the Regents Enterprise. The report includes three sections: Five-year capital plans for the Regents Institutions, the institutional roads program and the facilities governance report. 

Capital Plans
Each year, Iowa, Iowa State and UNI submit five-year capital plans for state funds, including legislative capital requests for the following fiscal year. The capital plans mostly include necessary future building and renovation projects and estimated budgets. Highlighted projects often serve vital needs for the state, such as ISU’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory-Phase 2 expansion.

Additionally, the capital report includes a legislative request for tuition replacement appropriations and building renewal funds. The annual tuition replacement appropriation is used to meet existing annual debt service obligations on academic building revenue bonds. Building renewal funds would be allocated by the Board toward building renewal projects, which include deferred maintenance, fire and environmental safety, campus security, regulatory compliance, energy conservation, modernization and building replacement projects in General Education Fund facilities.

Institutional Roads Program  
Regents institutions feature more than 90 miles of roadways, all of which need to be maintained. Each year, the Iowa Department of Transportation provides the Board with funding from the Iowa Road Use Tax Fund to maintain and improve roads on campuses. Over the last five years, DOT allocation has been roughly $2.2 million per year.

Facilities Governance Report
The facilities governance report is intended to provide the Board with a broad overview of the size, age, value and general condition of Regent facilities. Combined with intellectual, financial and human resources, facilities are a primary asset of higher education institutions. Quality facilities help ensure excellent academic programs and the ability to attract and retain students, faculty and staff.

This year, the report notes 883 buildings with 41 million gross square feet and an average age of 41 years. The report also outlines the need to “catch up” and “keep up” with respect to the institutions’ aging buildings. For example, many campus buildings (30 percent) were constructed in the 1960s and 70s to accommodate increased enrollment following the post-war baby boom. These buildings must be repaired, renovated or replaced in order to “catch up” on deferred maintenance and maintain competitive programs on Regents campuses. 

Further, a second wave of building occurred from 1995-2015, producing another 28 percent of general education fund-backed facilities. This wave produced buildings with more sophisticated systems and technology that were much more energy efficient than their predecessors. These buildings must be maintained in order to “keep up” on deferred maintenance.