Skip to main content
Home Insights New Miami Blog Higher-Education P3s Continue to Gain Momentum
  • Public-Private Partnerships
  • December 28, 2018

Higher-Education P3s Continue to Gain Momentum

Albert E. Dotson, Jr. & Eric Singer

Last week, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees authorized the negotiation of a comprehensive public-private partnership (P3) agreement with the winning proposer for a planned expansion of the university’s health and research facilities at the Grand Rapids campus. The decision marks one of many recent success stories for higher-education P3s. We previously wrote about a recent judicial decision that facilitates P3s for student housing, and a P3 for off-campus student housing at Florida International University recently reached financial close. This is consistent with a larger, national trend towards P3s for student housing.

The P3 model provides several benefits to higher-education institutions, including:

  • the provision of a higher quality housing product (student housing often plays an important role in recruitment)
  • the transfer of risks to the private sector, and
  • the retention of school personnel and financial resources for educational projects more aligned with the school’s mission.

These benefits have become more pronounced in recent years, as dwindling public funding nationwide has increased financial pressures on public colleges and universities.

At the same time, many colleges and universities are growing at a rapid pace and have a need for new educational facilities and other campus resources. The P3 model permits growing institutions to expand their campuses quickly, and without expanding and diverting existing staff or resources to operate and maintain the new facilities. The University of California, Merced P3 is one of the best known examples—when UC Merced planned for a doubling of its student body in less than 10 years, it utilized a $1.3B P3 to comprehensively expand its campus, and the project remains on track to meet the university’s very ambitious goals. Several other colleges and universities have since followed suit with their own campus expansions utilizing a P3 model, which has proven to deliver far more educational infrastructure, in less time, than a public institution could hope to provide using the traditional delivery model. As the list of success stories continues to grow, we should expect public higher-education facilities to increasingly look to the P3 model.

Related Practices
Public-Private Partnerships Transportation Infrastructure Higher Education
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Blog August 31, 2022
Public-Private Partnerships are Energizing Higher Education Institutions
In recent years colleges and universities have been among the most successful users of the public-private partnership (“P3”) model. The uptick in higher education P3 utility projects comes as no surprise given the unique demands and features of most institutions, which often rely on gove...
Press Release August 9, 2022
Land Use Practice Expands with Seven New Attorneys
As Florida experiences a steady influx of residents, businesses, and investment, law firm Bilzin Sumberg is expanding its Land Development & Government Relations practice to keep pace with demand for its services.
Blog March 7, 2022
As Public Funding Dwindles, Colleges and Universities Turn to Private Sector Par...
In recent years, public-private partnerships (P3’s) have been increasingly utilized by colleges and universities to serve a number of needs for these institutions. Read more to learn how P3 arrangements have helped institutions of higher learning better serve the needs of students and faculty.
VIEW MORE