As beautiful as Vassar campus is, I noticed lots of peeling paint and vents clogged with dust; also one set of stairs into a building on the tour was crumbling.
Any info on whether this is a widespread issue? If it affects student life?
Thanks!
Short answer: yes. Northeastern colleges are among the oldest in the country; we love and admire their vintage architecture (especially, when it is genuinely authentic), but don’t always appreciate how expensive they are to keep up. A solid rotating schedule for repairs is essential.
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Often, cosmetic repairs end up being deferred because a larger overhaul is planned, and most campuses can only endure so much at one time. It’s hard to take a lot of buildings out of use at one time. Even working through the summer is hard as most schools are being used in some capacity then.
So upgrading wiring and putting air conditioning in a dorm (a common project with increasingly warm weather) might be coupled with replacing windows, sanding old wooden floors, and then painting. Older campuses require a lot of attention and money to maintain.
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You will be hard pressed to find any older college in absolutely pristine condition. I would not worry about this at all. Vassar has an endowment of $1.39 billion. This is not an issue.
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Also, it’s been a rough winter in the northeast. Most colleges do these types of maintenance during the summers when less students are there.
Maybe someone knows when these projects are scheduled to be addressed. Worth asking. When we went on college tours, this type of info was readily available.
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I don’t know if/how it affects student life, but I will say that Vassar was the one college we visited where we noticed damage/maintenance upkeep issues. While visiting over the summer, we went to an info session in one of the larger classrooms. It was an older room/building without a ton of modern amenities (which is fine). What WAS surprising was to see several chairs/desks that were broken and unusable. It seemed strange that they’d actually hold the info session in that room, although I appreciate that it was probably the biggest room they had to accommodate all the students and parents. Even D26, who attends high school in a quite old building with its own set of maintenance issues, was taken aback.
And I’ll add that this was the absolute opposite of the science building which was sparkling new. I have no doubt that they have the resources to fix things.
My D22 just spent four years at Vassar. It’s definitely old - Main House, for example, was built in 1861 and finished in 1865. At the time it was one of the largest buildings in the country (it currently houses two floors of administrative offices and 250 students). It’s on the national historic register further complicating and increasing the cost of any renovations. I’m not sure about other buildings but assume some of the others are also in the historic register. That said every year my D has been there bathrooms and dorm rooms have been renovated over the summer. There’s only so many they can do each year. She has pretty much always lived in un-renovated rooms and it’s been fine (our joke is she’s always been one year behind the renovations). She never complained about infrastructure. But my kid likes old so if yours likes shiny and new possibly not the place for them. I always cringe when I hear about kids choosing a college based on getting their own bathroom - my kid had the hall coed bathroom with 20 other kids. It was fine (especially after the first year when she had access to a renovated bathroom but still large and shared) and in return for less than beautiful rooms and shared bathrooms she got a great education at a reasonable cost with great financial aid. I agree you’re going to see older facilities at most of the northeastern colleges and I doubt Vassar is really much different. Vassar has some gorgeous buildings but they must be a monster to upkeep - the dorms on the quad aren’t as big as Main but they’re big and old as well. I can’t imagine what it takes in upkeep to just keep them operational. But again, I have never heard my kid or her friends really complain about infrastructure and at least for us we definitely appreciated that money went to financial aid instead (while still being grateful for that renovated bathroom!). It’s a fine line for colleges. (The only complaint I have heard from my kid is about the extensive plantings on campus each season much as she loves the beauty of them - but she has questioned their cost. Personally I love them but I get her point. On the other hand I’m sure their cost is a drop in the bucket compared to renovating a wing of dorm rooms.). I’ve never actually been in a classroom - COVID time tours and no reason since then - but I’ve not heard any complaints.
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I should add my kid grew up in an old house with a lot of deferred maintenance and one shared bathroom so it’s possible her standards aren’t as high as others either 
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Ditto. Myself and some of the other NESCAC adults still DM each other about the Texas parent who couldn’t understand why we tolerated brown spots on our grassy areas! I guess it depends on your own personal ecosystem.
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Vassar alum here. They usually do the maintenance and painting over the summer on after the current classes leave so I wouldn’t worry about the status right now. They did recently update the heating system in one of the quad dorms. I don’t remember what the other plans are for updates and improvements. I can look through my notes from a visit last year to see if I can find it. I don’t think I wrote anything down, but I do know there were large donations made recently, and there are plans to do more updates. They just completed the new building for admissions and career placement.
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Here’s an article about the recent library renovation: New Library Study Commons Brings Expanded Hours and Space—Plus an Upgraded Accessible Entrance | Vassar College