(from Inside Higher Ed) Independent schools and higher-education institutions will be paying for winter long into spring. From fires and floods to recent snowstorms, extreme weather has eaten into many schools' campus maintenance budgets and contingency budgets too. Endicott College, on the coast of Massachusetts, has increased its contingency budget more than fourfold in the last five years, to over $1 million — prescient, it turns out, as storms earlier this year damaged four sections of the college’s seawall.
Weather-related costs can extend far beyond paying workers to clear campuses, as they also include suspending operations and losing staffing time. “In our state system today, at least four institutions are closed due to Winter Storm Toby, at a total cost in the range of $1.5-2 million just for salaries,” said Guilbert Brown of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. “There are additional costs related to snow removal, freeze/thaw and building damages, and lost revenues for food and other sales.”
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