Key Control Best Practices for Colleges and Universities

Managing campus access in colleges and universities is no small task. With keys to student housing, academic buildings, offices, vehicles, and other sensitive areas, even one misplaced key puts your assets at risk. More importantly, it endangers students, faculty, and staff, and pulls attention away from their academic and professional responsibilities.   

That's why key control is an essential part of any campus security program. Start by implementing key management best practices in the following areas:

Campus Collaboration

Campus-wide collaboration is ideal when planning your key and access control protocol. While departments like residence life, physical operations, and campus police often manage their own key control procedures, each one plays a vital role in keeping your campus safe and efficient. 

By working together on shared key control solutions, you can build processes that meet a wide range of needs. Having open conversations about what tools and practices work best for each team helps prevent confusion and ensures smoother implementation. 

Create a Campus-Wide Key Management Plan 

Reduce risk, miscommunication, and inconsistent practices by establishing a comprehensive key management plan. Start by evaluating how different departments manage key control, and consider these questions: 

• Do all departments follow a unified key and access control policy?
• Are there clear guidelines for creating and managing master keys or fobs?
• Have all key holders been properly trained?
• Do students and staff know how to request keys or access to shared spaces?
• Is there a reliable process for collecting keys and revoking access when someone leaves the university?

Store Keys Securely 

Take a close look at how your campus stores keys. If you keep them in desk drawers, unlocked cabinets, or unmonitored lockboxes, they’re vulnerable to loss or theft. For stronger protection, store them in a tamper-proof electronic key management system. This approach limits access to authorized users, records every key transaction, and significantly reduces the risk of misuse. 

Space Utilization

The shift to remote and hybrid work and learning has dramatically changed how campuses use space. Classrooms and offices often sit vacant or serve multiple purposes throughout the day. In fact, academic and administrative offices are only used about 50% of the time. Classroom space is underutilized as well, with a 59% utilization rate for centrally managed classrooms, compared to just 44% for department-owned classrooms. 

As your campus adapts to these changes, managing who can use shared spaces becomes more complex. Without the right systems in place, it’s difficult to know who’s entering which rooms and when. To maximize space efficiency and reduce risk, you need a flexible, secure approach to key and access control. 

Track and Monitor Credentials 

Even with smart lock adoption rising, many campus areas still depend on physical keys, cards, and fobs. Campus Safety’s latest “Access Control and Lockdown Deep Dive” report reveals a concerning trend — electronic lock adoption rose by 8%, but mechanical lock use declined by only 1%. Meanwhile, key management system use dropped from 45% to 36%. This data suggests campuses are upgrading door hardware but pulling back on key control systems, which provide oversight and accountability for physical credentials. 

Without centralized tracking, you can’t easily track who took a key, card, or fob, whether it was returned, or how it was used. A key management system closes that gap by securely storing keys and credentials and automatically logging every transaction. 

Establish Access Levels for Users

When multiple people share classrooms, offices, and other campus spaces, it’s critical to define who can use what and when. Without clear access levels, keys may end up in the wrong hands, and it becomes difficult to assign responsibility if there’s a security incident. 

For example: 

• An English professor doesn’t need access to a chemistry lab.
• A student worker might need a key to a shared office for a few hours each week but shouldn’t be able to enter faculty offices.

• A media lab used by both the communications and art departments may require different access levels for faculty, student assistants, and technical staff. 

Risk Management and Security

As your campus evolves — whether by implementing new technology or using space differently — your risk assessments must adapt.  With limited budgets and competing priorities, you need to carefully evaluate how much risk you’re willing to accept, and which security investments will deliver the greatest impact. 

While cybersecurity often tops the list, don’t overlook key security. Lost or misused keys can lead to costly rekeying, reputational damage, and safety concerns. Although many campuses are starting to adopt electronic key management systems, 79% still use mechanical keys. Without a system to track those keys, there’s a large security gap which allows lost or stolen keys to go unnoticed.  

To strengthen your key control processes, focus on these two critical steps:  

Keep an Accurate Log

Relying on outdated methods like lockboxes and manual logs makes it easy for key transactions to go unrecorded. If users forget to sign keys in or out, locating missing keys is a headache — and a potential liability. 

An electronic key control system eliminates that risk by providing a verifiable audit trail of all key activity. Some systems even capture video at checkout, deterring theft and helping law enforcement if a key goes missing. This reduces stress and protects your campus’s reputation. 

Set Up Alerts

Manual processes rarely hold users accountable for key usage, leaving you unaware if a key is lost or not returned. With electronic key management, you can set up alerts that notify administrators immediately when keys haven’t been returned on time or if someone tries to remove keys without authorization. You can also assign a deactivation date to automatically disable someone's account on a specific day, reducing unauthorized access risks. For example, when a student assistant's semester position ends or a contractor completes a project, their account expires on the assigned date.

By securing physical keys, cards, and fobs with these systems, you protect your campus, support staff and student safety, and strengthen your overall risk management strategy. 

The Modern Approach to Key Security

Managing campus key control can be challenging, but clear policies for access levels, secure key storage, and tracking usage make it easier. With the right key management system, you reduce risks, improve accountability, and help keep your campus safe and running smoothly. 

When your key control process is organized and reliable, it gives peace of mind to everyone on campus — administrators, students, faculty, and staff alike. 

This post was originally published in 2015 and updated in 2025.