Student Housing Assistance: Should Your Institution Offer It?

Student housing introduces new students to the college experience by putting them in the heart of campus life. However, living in a dorm can cost more than some students are capable of paying on their own. That’s why some schools offer student housing assistance.

In this article, we take a look at the benefits of student housing assistance from the perspective of schools. Understanding these benefits can help you decide whether offering them is right for your institution. Keep reading to learn more.

What Is Student Housing Assistance?

Student housing assistance is a type of financial support designed to help college students afford the costs of living in a dorm. States like California are starting to provide more financial aid coverage for non-tuition costs like housing through expanded student loans. This is something your school may be able to take advantage of so that more students are able to use their financial aid to live in dorms.

Your school may also consider offering its own student housing assistance independent of financial aid. This can include grants for qualifying students and work-study jobs that help students earn money to reduce the financial burden of living on campus.

Benefits of Providing Student Housing Assistance

Now that we know what college student housing assistance is, let's look at how your school can benefit by offering this form of aid to students. Here are five advantages to consider.

Financial Relief

Perhaps most obviously, student housing assistance delivers financial assistance to students. It helps to offset the costs of dorm life so that more students can afford it. That’s good news for students who want to live on campus but don’t currently have the resources to do it. But it’s also beneficial to your institution.

Giving students more financial avenues to cover the costs of on-campus shared living arrangements can help set your school apart from the competition. If prospective students want to live on campus and your school is the only one that makes doing so financially viable, they’ll be much likelier more likely to enroll with you than a competitor.

Attract Diverse Applicants

One of the key issues stemming from the costs of student housing is that it limits the types of students that can apply for it. Those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds may be unable to afford dorm life, creating a more homogenous student housing population than what the average institution wants.

When you offer student housing assistance, more people can afford student life on campus. That’s good news for everyone because it helps your campus life become more diverse by reducing housing insecurity.

This is another factor that can also play a role in admissions. Applicants may only apply to colleges where they know affordable housing exists. If you make it clear that students from all backgrounds can afford housing at your institution, you could increase the applications you receive and boost enrollment simply by virtue of keeping living expenses affordable.

Enhanced Student Experience

Living in a dorm is part of the authentic college experience. It helps your student population make friends and become involved in campus life. Offering student housing assistance is a way to ensure that as many students as possible can enjoy the benefits of dorm life while pursuing a college degree.

Once again, this can have an impact on the number of applications you receive and your subsequent enrollment figures. Making university housing more accessible boosts the student experience at your college, which makes it a more desirable place to attend school for many students.

Foster Inclusivity

Offering full-time student housing assistance can also be a way to make your school a more inclusive place. It ensures that everyone has access to the full campus experience, not just those who can afford to pay for it.

Given this, you can highlight the student housing assistance you offer as part of your school’s marketing efforts around diversity and inclusivity. It’s a way to show that your institution shares the same values as the students it’s seeking to enroll.

Boost Enrollment And Retention

We’ve mentioned several times that offering support for on-campus homes for students can help your school boost its enrollment figures in various ways. But there’s also research suggesting it could improve retention.

Studies dating back to the 1970s show that students who live on college campuses have maybe mention how the studied continue to show this…?significantly higher retention rates than their off-campus peers. Improving retention is good for your school’s graduation rate and is another factor you can highlight in your marketing materials.

Offering housing assistance helps to reduce the overall college costs a student incurs while attending your school. That could boost enrollment and retention further. Students will have an easier time affording the education they want and may no longer feel they need to choose between pursuing their studies and dropping out to pay the bills.

Set Your Institution Apart With The Right Housing Platform

The bottom line is that offering student housing assistance delivers value to students by keeping housing expenses low, which can help your institution stand apart from the competition. The question becomes whether the cost of housing assistance is worth the subsequent value you hope to generate from it.

But offering student housing assistance isn’t the only way to set your institution apart. You can also leverage the power of student housing technologies to give students a better overall housing experience. Housing.Cloud helps with that through our all-in-one property management software for student housing.

Our student housing management software includes features that make it easier to:

• Create better roommate matches

• Teach new students about their student housing options

• Build custom application forms in a few clicks

• Support your students with a better all-around on-campus housing experience

Want to learn more? Book a free demo with us today. We’ll show you exactly how we can help your school improve its on-campus housing to stand apart from the competition.