Is Your Facilities Partner Ready for the Performance?
The drama on college campuses is inevitable. But you can still deliver a performance worthy of a standing ovation—if you have the talent to satisfy the expectations of a diverse, demanding audience. Faculty and staff, students and families, alumni and supporters are watching. Is your facilities team ready?
10 Minutes
Average time for visitors to decide whether a prospective school will remain on their list after stepping onto campus
The Scene:
Thursday night: Students are up late and common areas are well-loved, to put it diplomatically. A pipe bursts at 3 AM.
Friday evening: A major donor comes to campus to visit the gymnasium named in her honor. The facility needs to be spotless, even though it just hosted thousands of visitors during last night’s basketball game.
Saturday morning: Several dozen families are scheduled to arrive for an admitted students day. Enrollment decisions, ones that drive millions in revenue, are being made as soon as these visitors step onto campus grounds.
On college campuses, unpredictability meets high stakes every day with a rotating audience of donors, administrators, faculty, staff, students, families, and often a combination of all of these stakeholders at once.
The ability to keep your campus shining in the spotlight comes down to a well-rehearsed response from your facilities teams.
That’s why there’s one throughline that has continued across college and university campuses: combining services into a full facilities management program.
The Rotating Audience Challenge
Donors, alumni, parents, students, staff: Each of these audience members has a different investment in your college—but all share high expectations of what the campus should look like on a given day.
When the curtain rises, students want to feel at home, and will certainly notice when common area tables are perpetually sticky or when sidewalks are covered in ice, making it dangerous to get from residence hall to class and back. Every little moment like these adds up to not only how they’ll talk about their experience as alumni, but if they’ll return to campus next semester.
Act 2 cues families wanting to know their students are safe—and that their tuition dollars are contributing to a positive experience for their students.
Act 3 involves donors and alumni returning to a place of pivotal moments and memories. A frayed awning or grimy bathroom can not only cast a pall on those fond reflections, but make them wonder where their contributions are going.
The Finale: Add to that the nonstop scrutiny from administrators on the safety, compliance, and long-term sustainability of facilities, and you have a lot of pressure to perform.
The Power of an Integrated Partner
Unfortunately, burst pipes don’t take into account your visitor schedule. Students are focused on their work, not cleaning their dorms before tomorrow’s prospective student tour. And the rain doesn’t hold off when the grounds are already saturated.
The benefits of an integrated facilities partner go beyond the cost savings.
When services—including custodial, operations, landscaping and grounds, and event support to name a few—have the same management team and accountability structure, the daily campus performance becomes a well-orchestrated affair.
Teams can prioritize long- and short-term goals. Surprises are mitigated by a proactive strategy and the ones that inevitably do arise are quickly handled with improv, but also an efficient, coordinated response.
After decades of serving colleges and universities, we get college life. We know that someone is always watching—whether a student, parent, donor, or other visitor. No matter who the audience is, UG2 knows how to make sure your campus shines and give an award-winning, encore performance.
Learn more about UG2’s integrated facilities services for college and university campuses.