Nowadays, the Russian educational institutions, especially higher educational institutions, face a serious challenge in adapting their strategy to the new environmental conditions and developing a strategy for sustainable development. In paper the prospects of implementing programs in the sphere of resource saving at the university are estimated. The article presents the results of surveys, observations, expert interviews. The conducted researches allowed the authors to collect empirical data about the environmental attitude and ecological behavior of the main university’s stakeholders (employees, students, prospective applicants), as well as make economic calculations and identify opportunities for reducing the costs of the university in key areas of pollution (light, water, garbage)