Colleges seek over $650 million from Minnesota Legislature to renovate campuses

ST. PAUL — Minnesota's two higher education systems, the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State, together will ask the Legislature this year for about $1 billion to address a growing backlog of repairs and maintenance projects needed at campuses across the state.

“The state of Minnesota has not been taking care of its assets and this is all about asset preservation, keeping the roofs from leaking, keeping the boiler heating the building,” said Minnesota State Chancellor Scott Olson.

Olson was joined by U of M Interim President Jeff Ettinger in a statewide tour to build support for the request ahead of the start of the legislative session on Feb. 12.

Minnesota State's portion of the request is for $427.6 million in state funding support for 16 major projects including roof replacements, and updates to windows, walls and more efficient mechanical and utility systems. The college system has 54 campuses in the state. It would borrow an additional $113.8 million to augment the sum it receives from the Legislature.

The University of Minnesota has a roughly equally-sized request, which calls for a variety of work projects on the system's campuses in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Morris and Crookston.

A sizable chunk of Minnesota State's request, $200 million, will be from the Legislature's Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement (HEAPR) category of funding. HEAPR is a separate category for capital budget appropriations in bonding bill proceeds to higher education institutions including the Minnesota State system and the University of Minnesota.

Most Minnesota State campus facilities were built between 1965 and 1975 and require renovation. HVAC and roof repairs represent 71% of the $200 million Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement request.

Last year, both systems received about $136 million for capital needs.

Since 2012, Minnesota State has requested more than $1 billion and received a little over $223 million from the Legislature.

That funding shortfall has created a backlog in needed maintenance at campuses across the state. About $1.55 billion is needed to clear the maintenance backlog, and another $1.38 billion over the next decade will be needed to replace or update buildings, according to Minnesota State officials.

The Minnesota college and university system is one of the largest in the country, serving more than 300,000 students annually at 54 campuses in 47 Minnesota communities.

Minnesota State’s request will also include a little over $341 million for 15 campus-specific projects across the state with Minnesota State University in Mankato and Winona State University receiving the largest amounts.

Highlights of Minnesota State funding request:

• Winona State University would receive close to $72 million to replace outdated buildings and construct the first Minnesota State net-zero energy building.
• Alexandria Technical & Community College would receive more than $34 million for renovations and the construction of a new transportation center for its diesel mechanics and truck driver programs.
• Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall would receive more than $14 million for renovations and the creation of a new public entrance.
• St. Cloud State University would receive $3.4 million to demolish and replace its Education Building.
• Rochester Community and Technical College would receive more than $13.2 million for renovations and marketing to increase student enrollment.
• Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Granite Falls and Worthington would receive more than $9.6 million for renovations and to update spaces to mimic real-world workplace settings.
• Minnesota State College Southwest in Winona would receive more than $14.5 million for renovations and updates to buildings.
• Minnesota State University Moorhead would receive $3.3 million for a new fire safety system to replace an outdated patchwork system across campus.
• MState in Fergus Falls would receive $10 million to replace an outdated heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

Out of the more than $650 million requested for higher education funding this year, the University of Minnesota will ask for more than $108.65 million of that, mostly for repairs to outdated buildings.

“This year we really decided to focus requests on the preservation side and making sure our facility staff and students have facilities that have decent heating, handicap access, sprinkler systems, you name it,” said University of Minnesota Interim President Jeff Ettinger.

Highlights of U of M funding request:

• $7.5 million of HEAPR funding for the university’s Crookston campus for infrastructure updates across several buildings.
• The University of Minnesota-Duluth would receive $39.5 million to update and renovate its Humanities building, Heller Hall and Library Annex.
• The University of Minnesota-Morris would receive $10.05 million to renovate a library, a resource center and a sports center.
• The other $52 million would go toward renovating two buildings and a pedestrian bridge on the Twin Cities campus.