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TLS 25 APPA Thought Leaders Series 2014 Using facilities to advance institutional priorities Facilities are more than the stage on which higher edu- cation performs. The entire built environment plays a role—often a greater role than members of the academic community realize. Both facilities themselves and the facilities opera- tion can help institutions achieve their goals and reach optimal outcomes. Student success: Facilities create environments that support learning and enable new teaching meth- ods. Faculty and students pay little attention to class- room space—until it stops working. In fact, sophisticated facilities planning and design can help in- stitutions improve student engagement by supporting evolving teaching methods, including flipped classrooms and problem-based learning. Rooms that allow for the instructor to move around the room easily and enable quick rearrangement of desks to form small groups en- courage the teaching styles shown to be most successful for today's students. Planners and architects are looking for cost-effective ways to transform old-fashioned, the- ater-style lecture halls into spaces that can adapt along with the pedagogy. High rates of recruitment and retention: The campus p lays a major role in creating positive im- pressions and building student engagement. When alumni tell stories of their college or university years, they often mention the places—the quad, the cafeteria, the dorm—that shaped their memories. The significance of these places begins the first time students visit an in- stitution; in a survey by APPA of more than 16,000 stu- dents at 46 institutions, 50 perc ent of respondents agreed with the statement, "When I first saw the cam- pus, I knew this was the right college for me." Two- thirds of respondents claimed the overall quality of cam- pus facilities and the attractiveness of the campus were either "very important" or "essential," and nearly a third of respondents rejected a particular college or university because it lacked facilities they considered imp ortant. The campus—the actual, physical campus—is critical to the student experience, and successful institutions will find investment here pays off. Affordable tuition and fees: Efficient facilities operations can significantly reduce costs for the in- stitution. Best practices in facilities management can in- crease the overall operating efficiency of the institution, especially when total cost of owner ship is adopted as a policy. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) considers not just up-front costs of buildings and systems but also long- term costs to operate, maintain, upgrade, and replace them. Typically, institutions track these expenses sepa- rately, dividing them between capital improvement, maintenance, and recapitalization funds, a practice that costs the institution more over time. TCO provides a dat a-driven approach that helps colleges and universities Section IV: Facilities' contributions to institutional goals Data Point: Recruiting and the campus Sending a message "We must understand that campus landscapes are a medium of communication. The landscape is contin- ually sending messages to students, faculty, and staff; is it saying what you want it to?" —Phil Waite, associate professor of landscape architec- ture and environmental planning, Utah State University, "Campus Landscaping: Impact on Recruitment and Retention," Society for College and University Planning Webinar, May 7, 2014.