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Better Design Might Be the Next Frontier in Getting Students Back to Campus
There’s a shift happening across college campuses. Colleges are starting to treat campus design not just as a matter of aesthetics or capacity but as a strategic tool for shaping the student experience. They’re asking: Does this place make students want to stay? Engage? Come back tomorrow?
In a recent EdSurge article, California State University, Fullerton’s $65 million visual arts complex was spotlighted as a prime example of this shift—a project built not just for classes but for connection, collaboration, and the long game of student success. It’s built for flexibility and collaboration, creating an environment where students feel like they belong and shaping how they move, meet, and feel on campus.
That’s a shift APPA is seeing across the board. As APPA President & CEO Lalit Agarwal shared in the piece, traditional spaces like libraries are being rethought from the ground up. “Libraries are becoming open and collaborative,” he said. “Furniture can be rearranged, and students can work together comfortably.” It’s about giving students room to move — literally and figuratively — in spaces that support how they learn now, not how they learned 20 years ago.
That adaptability isn’t a luxury — it’s becoming essential. As Audrey Sorensen, APPA’s Marketing and Communications Manager put it: “We don’t know what’s coming down the line, but we know that if we address these needs — current and future — with flexible spaces that can change uses whenever we need them to, even depending on the time of day, that’s a huge benefit.” It’s a practical mindset with a long-term payoff, especially as programs evolve and students demand more from their campus environments.
For APPA members, the takeaway is clear: campus facilities are no longer passive assets—they’re active participants in the student experience. Today’s decisions about how space is planned, maintained, and adapted directly impact how well institutions can support academic outcomes, student well-being, and institutional resilience.
The role of the physical campus is evolving. And the facilities community is at the center of that evolution.
