There was a time when the broken Benton-Stadler science complex at the University of Missouri-St. Louis came close to being fixed.

Three times, actually.

But just when help appeared to be on the way, something bad would happen.

The most recent effort to repair and renovate the 40-year-old complex — which houses a mix of labs and classrooms that serve pretty much every student passing through campus — was derailed when federal stimulus money was diverted to other state needs. Before that, the $32 million project was delayed when the cash-strapped Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority stopped contributing to a state fund earmarked for campus improvements.

Such is the frustration facing UMSL and other campuses across the state, where the price tag for critical repairs and renovations grows with each year. Benton-Stadler is simply one of the more glaring examples. Administrators know exactly what they would like to do with the tired complex and its outdated labs. They've talked to architects. They've drawn up plans. They have everything they need. Except money.

"We're so close, I can taste it," said UMSL Chancellor Tom George. "If the economy had tanked six months later, we probably would have had our money. But that's the way it goes."

Certainly that seems to be the case in Missouri, where capital expenditures on higher education tend to be spotty even in good economic times. After all, it's been some 15 years since the state last issued bonds to pay for capital improvements on its campuses.

And given the state's rocky economic standing, there's little reason to expect much next year from a Legislature and governor facing the same pressures that forced them to cut 5 percent from higher education spending and slash a program that provides scholarships to low- and middle-income students.

But later this month, the Board of Curators for the University of Missouri system will put together a capital request for the next legislative session, detailing the needs of the four Missouri campuses.

The state has given those schools only $62 million over the last seven years. Last month's preliminary budget shows nearly $300 million in top campus priorities, including $49 million for critical needs at all four campuses and $28 million for Benton-Stadler.

"We understand the challenges the state faces," said Nikki Krawitz, the system's vice president of finance. "But we have an obligation to the students and citizens of the state to present what our needs are."

Among the priorities:

• $49.1 million for critical repairs across the four campuses.

• $64.8 million for work on Lafferre Hall, used by the college of engineering in Columbia.

• $65 million for a new facility for the colleges of optometry and nursing at the St. Louis campus.

• $70.7 million for a new complex in Rolla for biology, chemistry and chemical engineering.

• $43.2 million for the Miller Nichols Library renovation and interactive learning center addition at the Kansas City campus.

In some instances, the campuses are trying to modernize equipment to make sure students are keeping up with peers around the nation. Sometimes it's about bringing together educational disciplines that are scattered around campus. And often, it's about keeping aging buildings from falling apart.

That's one of the tasks falling upon Gary Ward, the associate vice chancellor for facilities at the Columbia campus, who tracks the needs of 110 academic buildings.

Today, those buildings need $500 million in repairs, renovations and upgrades. It's a figure that's expected to grow by $20 million a year without some change in the amount of money available for capital repairs. Unless something changes, Ward said, some of those buildings will be unusable within a decade.

"The problem is getting so big, it's just going to snowball on us," Ward said.

Last year, the school dedicated a portion of its maintenance budget — a move that has the potential to create other problems down the line — to pay for its share of a $35 million bond issue by the Missouri system. The campus used its $19 million to renovate Tate Hall and Schweitzer Hall, the oldest academic building on campus.

But that still leaves the campus with its most pressing need, the $64 million renovation of Lafferre Hall, with its outdated heating and cooling systems and stairways out of compliance with building codes. It has accessibility issues. Labs are outdated. And on rainy days, trash cans are used in hallways to catch leaks.

"It's really a depressing sight when you see something like that," Ward said "This is Mizzou, one of the premiere universities in the nation."

There's only so much the individual universities can do to address problems with their academic buildings. Unlike revenue-generating buildings — think residence halls and parking garages — the academic buildings are reliant on some sort of outside support for upkeep. And it's rare that this outside support will come from private donors and alumni, who are more likely to give money for scholarship funds and new buildings.

But renovating an old classroom or paying for a new roof?

"Donors aren't very excited about giving to that kind of project," said Rae Goldsmith, a vice president with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. "And it just gets more and more expensive the longer you wait."

One of the best hopes — albeit a long shot — is the possibility of new bonds being issued by the state, which is just now paying off debt issued in the early 1980s for similar purposes. Some legislators pushed unsuccessfully in the last session to take advantage of low interest rates to raise $800 million to address the most critical need on each of the state's campuses.

The effort was led in the House by Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, and Rep. Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, but it never made it to the floor for a vote. It's unclear how it would have fared in the Senate. Gov. Jay Nixon has not taken a position on the issue.

Supporters are a bit more optimistic about the measure's chances in the coming year, in part because Tilley is expected to be speaker of the House.

They're touting the idea both as an economic recovery vehicle — pointing to jobs generated by construction projects — and as a way to help campuses coping with deteriorating infrastructures.

"There's probably nothing less sexy in the universe than tuckpointing," Kelly said. "But guess what. If you don't do it, your building will leak."