There's never a guarantee that an investment will pay off, but there are sustainable pathways to facilities development. A good friend and colleague of NBOA's, Peter Bachmann, a principal architect at JCJ Architecture, shared an example with me involving a nearly 150-year-old New York boarding school. "Schools with boarding components generate substantial revenue through boarding, and we recognized it would be critical to provide additional beds on campus to drive growth," he says. His team developed a comprehensive campus master plan for the school. "We decided to implement the master plan in steps—a strategic sequencing of facilities projects—to create a revenue cycle that would fund the next phase."
For instance, one of the first steps (after developing a sophisticated waste management system for current and future operations) was to convert an underutilized structure on the 50-acre campus into dormitory use. The 10 new beds had an immediate impact on revenue and jump-started phase two of the master plan: the renovation of an underused academic building to create five new classrooms and a flexible student commons and study hall. Moreover, these relatively simple sequencing steps enabled the school to exceed its enrollment goal two years ahead of schedule. Current steps in the master plan include renovating an outdated classroom building to create 20 more beds plus two faculty apartments. "These new beds will help finance a new academic center" with new classrooms, a new student center and much more, Bachmann explains.
As you wrestle with expansion possibilities at your school, I encourage you to ponder strategies such as "strategic sequencing" so that your school can both be ready for future challenges and further solidify its finances.
In the meantime, build wisely, business officers.
