Student Housing

The term student housing is used to describe transient on-campus and off-campus dwelling options available to those whose common goal is the pursuit of higher education at a physical university campus. Student housing has a rich history over several hundred years and is now a growing niche market for the multifamily housing industry.

Student housing can be traced to European universities in the Middle Ages, a time when some university student populations grew to be larger than the towns themselves. Housing massive numbers of students overwhelmed these small cities. Some students lived with schoolmasters and townspeople, while those unable to find accommodations resorted to camping in fields or burrowing into the hillside. Eventually, European university students moved to houses that became known as hostels in Bologna, paedagogies in Paris, halls or colleges at Oxford, and Bursen at German universities.

Using the traditions learned as students at Oxford and Cambridge, the founders of Harvard and other colonial colleges brought English concepts to America in the 1600s and 1700s. The English model sheltered students from the outside world, with early dormitories resembling monasteries. Residence life included rigid requirements for chapel, curfew, conduct, and dress. However, the 1862 U.S. Land Grant College Act established state colleges using a secular education model. Additionally, some private institutions dissolved their religious affiliations, replacing their rigid structure with greater freedom for students.

When university enrollment increased dramatically following World War I, overcrowding forced institutions to develop student housing plans. Likewise, large numbers of veterans returning after World War II had a dramatic effect on university enrollment. Universities struggled to provide housing not only for the veterans themselves but also for their families. Rising birth rates corresponded [Page 706]to higher college enrollments through the 1950s. Universities built residence halls in earnest to house the masses. Based on cost-per-square-foot assessments, these huge, frugal complexes were much less homelike than their predecessors.

Through the 1960s, student enrollment at colleges and universities continued to increase. The Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963 provided low-interest government loans for the construction of residence halls. Because the act covered building fixtures (permanently attached items), many dorms built during this time have built-in beds, desks, and dresser drawers that were financed through the loan. Housing the student masses in the early 1960s, policies such as curfews, dress codes, and behavior were strictly enforced, and many students chose to live in residence halls only for the economic benefit. But the rebellion of students during the late 1960s and early 1970s altered this environment as students placed more value on autonomy and resented being monitored by the institutions.

As the millennial population, also referred to as Generation Y, or echo boomers, began entering college, it was clear that their preferences differed from earlier generations. Features once considered luxuries (i.e., private bathrooms, lounges, walk-in closets, private laundry, etc.) are now expected. Technology plays a crucial role in student housing with today's student lifestyle dependent on cell phones, computers, and Internet connection. Millennials tend to be multitaskers with busy cyber, social, and personal lives, and they prefer housing that allows them to maintain this lifestyle.

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