Ohio's universities ask for funds for buildings

The state's university system has more than $3 billion in debt.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Debt at Ohio's public universities has tripled in the past five years to more than $3 billion as schools borrow more to finance critical repairs to buildings while blaming the state for not providing enough money.
"The capital budgets have been cut, biennium by biennium," said Michael Schwartz, president of Cleveland State University. "What's troublesome is these facilities were built by the state for the use of the people of this state, and it strikes me that the state has an obligation to maintain them."
The Ohio Board of Regents received $488 million in the last capital budget, down from $554 million in fiscal 2003-04. And the state has told the regents, who requested $600 million, to expect about $450 million in the next capital budget.
Higher-education officials have complained for years that the state does not provide enough money for instruction. They say money for capital improvement is needed just as much.
In a memo to Gov. Bob Taft in January, the regents say the backlog of maintenance on a majority of campus buildings is up to $5 billion.
At the same time that capital budgets for higher education have been held down, the state has put more than $10 billion over a dozen years into construction of buildings for K-12 pupils.
"The danger as we see it with the deferred-maintenance issues is legislators are creating a similar problem for higher education," said Rich Petrick, the regents' vice chancellor of finance. "We are trying to alert the world so that no one is surprised when roofs start leaking all over the place."
Unnecessary?
But Tim Keen, director of the state's Office of Budget and Management, which allocates money to state agencies, said the state's colleges will have a hard time convincing him and lawmakers that a sharp increase in capital funding is necessary.
New buildings funded by donations at Ohio State University and other campus do not make campuses look needy. Some schools also make students pay for construction by assessing additional fees.
The regents say many buildings are about 40 years old and need new roofs, plumbing and improvements to bring them up to modern building codes. Lawmakers say buildings should not be falling apart at that age.
State money can be used only for teaching and instruction areas, such as classrooms, laboratories and faculty office space -- about 80 percent of campus facilities. The money cannot be used for dining and residential halls, parking garages or sports facilities.
Schwartz said the next higher-education capital budget will give him only a small amount of the $300 million he needs to repair buildings.