Louisiana colleges face 4 billion deficit

State officials revealed Louisiana’s public colleges and universities are grappling with a deferred maintenance deficit exceeding $4 billion, as highlighted in a recent report delivered to the Louisiana Board of Regents. For fiscal year 2028, the board intends to seek more than $700 million in state allocations to fund approximately 70 infrastructure initiatives.

The Louisiana State University system is set to receive the most funding, with $279.8 million requested for 23 ongoing projects and one new one in fiscal 2028. Across the state’s four systems and 33 public institutions, 30% of facilities are between 25 and 50 years old, while another 30% are over 50 years old.

According to an analysis by Gordian, these older facilities are at higher risk of maintenance issues or even failures. The state’s public colleges are not alone in their deferred maintenance backlog, as nationwide, colleges’ deferred capital projects reached $156 per gross square foot in 2025.

This amount represents an 8% increase from the prior year and a near doubling from 2007 levels. Spending on existing buildings in 2025 was less than three-fourths of what was needed to prevent the backlog from growing even more. Gordian noted that the data tells a story of structural underinvestment colliding with an accelerating pace of institutional change.

In a similar situation, Houston City College reported 450 needed repairs and upgrades at a cost of just under $80 million in additional spending. The college’s leaders noted that by the time a maintenance issue becomes a must-fix, repairs tend to be more expensive and can negatively impact instruction, student experience, and building asset value.

Nationwide, the issue of deferred maintenance is significant, with Moody’s Ratings tallying up a nearly $1 trillion “hidden liability” in physical capital needs over the next decade among the roughly 500 institutions it rates. Eliminating the backlog and addressing upcoming maintenance needs in Louisiana would require annual capital spending of $777 million over the next decade.