Just Add Cash: The Great Expanding American University

This brief article from The Economist notes the ongoing capital expansion of universities:

In 2006 a Standard & Poor's report described the university construction boom as an “arms race”—implying that it was expensive and ultimately tangential to their educational mission. Indeed, Daniel Greenberg, a Washington journalist, has argued that universities are overbuilding, and are ending up with underused lab space as the NIH budget flattens out.

Meanwhile, according to the Department of Education, the average annual cost of a standard four-year course at an American university has trebled since the 1985-86 school year. Ohio University increased its tuition fees by 2% to pay for its student centre, which contains a 250-seat theatre, a food court and a five-storey atrium. In addition, universities are increasingly being forced to rely on debt.

The article cites the 2007 College Planning & Management Construction Report (PDF), related data at the National Center for Education Statistics 2006 Digest, and a 2005 National Science Foundation report on university research space.