Page 9 - College Planning & Management, April/May 2019

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are also in demand for students who may have physical, social, and/or emotional needs where a single is most appropriate. We will typically now include at least a couple single bedrooms with private bathrooms for this reason,” he says.
THE SURVEY SAYS
Our survey respondents made it clear what the main issues are that concern them in regard to their campus housing. A majority cited aging facilities, deferred maintenance, and the funding required to solve these problems. While students (and their parents) expect a secure, home-like abode with private bedrooms and bathrooms, top- notch WiFi, and overall comfort and safety for reasonable cost, housing administrators are concerned with leaking roofs, obsolete HVAC equipment, worn flooring and, increasingly, the presence of emotional sup- port/comfort animals and the problems they can bring into
residential spaces.
Housing programs continue
to walk a narrow line between keeping campus building stock functional, comfortable, clean, and safe on tight budgets while students and parents expect more.
With that observation made, what do our survey re- spondents 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? The number of students
enrolling in higher education decreased a relatively small amount between 2010 and 2016, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), but is now predicted to increase through 2027. In fall 2016, total undergraduate enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions was 16.9 million students, an in- crease of 28 percent from 2000, when enrollment was 13.2 million students, according to the NCES. While total under- graduate enrollment increased by 37 percent between 2000 and 2010 (from 13.2 million to 18.1 million students), enroll- ment decreased by 7 percent between 2010 and 2016 (from 18.1 million to 16.9 million students). The NCES projects that undergraduate enrollment will increase only by 3 percent (from 16.9 million to 17.4 mil- lion students) between 2016 and 2027.
Recruiting and retaining students are vital aspects of at-
tracting students to a residential campus, and housing is a market- ing tool for institutions looking to draw students to and keep them living on campus. Schools must offer sufficient beds and associated amenities. Too much real estate tied up in residence halls that are under-occupied is a drain on budgets and resources, but a lack of sufficient space for potential and current students might cause those students to in- stead enroll in an institution that can meet their desires as well as their needs. Are there sufficient beds available today?
Answers to our 2018
survey of housing administra- tors showed that 59 percent
of respondents felt they had sufficient space available; 32 percent indicated too little; and 9 percent indicated they have too much, resulting in unfilled beds. This year, the number of respondents indicating they have sufficient space dropped slightly to 55 percent; 32 percent indicated they have too little (the same as in 2018); and an increase to 12 percent say they have too much.
Up 7 percent from last year, 85 percent said they are not planning to add any new resi- dence halls to campus in 2019- 2020. A decline from the 22 percent reported in 2018, only 15 percent said they are plan- ning to open new residence halls in 2019-2020. Of those 15 percent adding to their stock, over half of survey respon- dents, 57 percent, are doing so to increase the number of beds available. Thirty-seven percent
(up 2 percent from 2018) are replacing existing facilities. Forty-three percent (also up 2 percent from 2018) intend for these new facilities to improve their school’s marketability/ help with recruiting new stu- dents, while 24 percent—a 7 percent drop from 2018—are opening new facilities in order to keep current students living on campus.
In 2018, 25 percent of respondents indicated that the new facilities underway were intended to create specialized living/learning communities (for first-generation students, or family housing space, to cluster students who are enrolled in similar programs together, etc.). For the 2019 respondents this goal increased only slightly: 28 percent indi- cated that their new residence halls are creating specialized living/learning communities.
Gatewood sees recruitment and retention of students as an important part of the decision to build new facilities. “The majority of new residence halls are being built to replace old facilities or to support enroll- ment growth,” he says, “That said, we do see many schools using new residential facili- ties to help achieve strategic objectives such as attract-
ing and retaining students. Furthermore, many schools are implementing (or evaluating the idea of) two-year residency requirements primarily to bolster retention. A two-year live-on policy can mean that more students will need to be
APRIL/MAY 2019 / WEBCPM.COM
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MACKEY MITCHELL ARCHITECTS