Page 18 - College Planning & Management, April 2018

can be strategies to accomplish the level of flexibility housing officers are often look- ing to achieve.”
Another vital component of today’s perfect residence hall? The fastest WiFi. Of course.
Gatewood agrees. “WiFi has become the norm for connectivity, and many in- stitutions are phasing out cable TV due to the predominance of online streaming.”
The Survey Says
When we asked campus housing di- rectors and administrators what expec- tations students have for housing, the dissonance between the list of students’ desired amenities and what housing di- rectors are currently able to provide or are focused on providing—a sufficient number of beds, roofs that don’t leak, me- chanical system upgrades (HVAC, light- ing, etc.), remodeled bathrooms, func- tional furnishings, life-safety additions/ upgrades, etc.—was substantial. Hous- ing programs that are walking a narrow line between keeping their current build- ing stock functional, comfortable, and safe and student expectations for some- thing akin to the good life at a luxury resort on campus are probably not ready to offer high-end amenities. That doesn’t mean students won’t ask for the best.
With that observation made, what do our survey respondents have to say about the state of their campus housing stock, as well as the students living within it?
Space. Too Much? Too Little? Just Enough?
Depending on the sources you con- sult, the number of students enrolling in higher education is increasing, de- creasing, or remaining about the same. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, undergraduate en- rollment is projected to increase by 14 percent (from 17.0 million to 19.3 million students) between 2015 and 2026.
Online learning allows students— both traditional and nontraditional—to learn from where they live, with no need to travel to or reside on campus. Even so, campus housing remains a market- ing tool for institutions looking to draw students to and keep them on campus. Schools need to offer sufficient beds and associated amenities. Too much real es- tate tied up in residence halls that are under-occupied is a drain on budgets and resources, but not having sufficient space for potential and current students might cause those students to instead enroll in an institution that can meet their desires as well as their needs. Are there sufficient beds available today?
Answers to our 2017 survey of housing administrators showed that 60 percent of respondents felt they had sufficient space available; 32 percent indicated too little; and 8 percent indicated they have too much, resulting in unfilled beds. This year, the number of respondents indicating they have sufficient space dropped only slight- ly, to 59 percent; 32 percent indicated they have too little (the same as in 2017); and 9 percent say they have too much.
Down 12 percent from last year, 78 percent said they are not planning to add any new residence halls to campus in 2018-2019. A significant increase from 12 percent reported in 2017, 22 percent said
they are planning to open new residence halls in 2018-2019. Of those 22 percent adding to their stock, over half of survey respondents, 54 percent, are doing so to increase the number of beds available. Thirty-five percent are replacing exist- ing facilities. Forty-one percent intend for these new facilities to improve their school’s marketability/help with recruit- ing new students, while 31 percent are opening new facilities in order to keep current students living on campus.
Perhaps aligned with this goal of re- tention, in 2017, 13 percent responded that the new facilities underway were intended to create specialized living/ learning communities (for first-genera- tion students, or family housing space, to cluster students who are enrolled in simi- lar programs together, etc.). For the 2018 respondents this goal almost doubled: 25 percent indicated that their new resi- dence halls are creating specialized liv- ing/learning communities.
Gatewood sees a striving for a balance between privacy and creating a sense of community, particularly in housing for lower-division students. “We do see a general decline of suite-style housing for freshman as it is usually a higher square footage/bed and has largely been found to not adequately support community building outside the suite. ‘Affordability’ and ‘value’ are two words we hear often as we look at the overall building program and determine sizes of individual spac- es,” he explains.
This year, CP&M asked respondents who is developing, building, and fund- ing new residence halls—in particular, if their institution had entered into a public-private partnership (P3) with a developer or other entity in order to build and/or maintain residential facilities on
18 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / APRIL 2018 WEBCPM.COM
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