The nation's colleges are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn, and maintenance and operations (M&O) budgets especially are under pressure. This article presents data from the 38th annual Maintenance & Operations Cost Study for colleges that can help one in benchmarking expenditures at one's institution. Data provided only targets two-year and four-year colleges with no significant graduate programs. This is done to provide more useful comparative data. Larger four-year universities with significant graduate programs are not surveyed because their costs and activities are so varied that results would be less useful. In addition, data provided reflect actual spending by colleges on M&O and are not intended to be "ideal" amounts. According to the M&O Cost Study, the median college allocates 10 percent of its total budget to M&O, down from 11 percent the year before. While lower energy costs helped colleges' bottom lines, rising payroll and benefits costs strained budgets. Like school districts, custodial and maintenance staff are being required to do more. The amount of square feet maintained per full-time custodian increased by 16 percent; the amount of square feet maintained per full-time maintenance worker increased by 13 percent.