Talking Stick - September/October 2011 - 39

that the residence halls do not belong to them; they are merely the overseers who ultimately operate in support of the campus’s mission. While a central goal for all institutions is to remain ﬁscally stable, especially in times of economic instability, there are many other ways that on-campus housing can affect an institution’s goals. Most notably, on-campus housing can have a positive impact on students’ overall living and learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom and on campus spirit and vibrancy. Higher levels of student satisfaction and achievement are directly related to institutional retention and attrition rates. Certainly, such ﬁndings have led colleges and universities to increase opportunities for on-campus living and, in many cases, to institute residency requirements. Campus Type. The occupancy management process varies depending on institutional type. While some small schools can accommodate more than 2,000 residential students and some large schools house fewer than 500, larger institutions generally have more bed spaces than do smaller ones. However, having more bed spaces does not necessarily mean there is a higher percentage of on-campus residency. Consideration must be given to the ratio of on-campus residential students to the school’s overall enrollment, which explains why many smaller institutions boast higher on-campus residency percentages. Aside from institutional size, school status as public or private can also impact the occupancy management process. Generally speaking, private schools are less inclined to provide housing for students outside the traditional-aged undergraduate population. However, occupancy managers at large public universities commonly oversee on-campus housing not only for traditional-aged student populations but also for graduate students and family units, which increases the complexity of the overall management process. More residents

and the increased diversity of the residential population mean not only more housing, but also more housing options, more facility maintenance, and the need for more funding sources. Regardless of what country a campus may call home, all the aforementioned goals associated with business operations remain the same. For instance, at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa, residents are administratively assigned housing according to their areas of study; students at all levels within a major – ﬁrst through ﬁnal year – live in the same residence hall, with the top seniors acting as

mentors for ﬁrst-year residents. In contrast, at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the University of Ballarat in Australia, students are often able to request their preferred residential option, independent of their academic major. Requiring students to live in on-campus housing is less common at international colleges and universities than it is in the United States. Providing housing on a ﬁrst-come, ﬁrst-served basis protects the institution from the obligation to accommodate students when over-enrollment occurs. In addition, the practice of offering special accommodations and priority placements

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Talking Stick - September/October 2011

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