As the community college population increases because of the recent decades’ trend toward greater higher education access, the increasing student population demands effective and efficient services on campus, such as food services, the bookstore, vending, laundry, etc. (Bekurs, 2007). Given that the primary function of higher education is student instruction, institutions are certainly not experts at these services. Given this fact, institutions often outsource these services (Bekurs, 2007). Similarly, another growing campus trend is the outsourcing of housing services.
In the 1960s and 1970s, public funding provided matching grants for campus housing projects, but throughout the 1980s and 1990s, colleges struggled to meet the housing needs of students (Bekurs, 2007). Rent increases and cost reductions were their primary methods of funding new housing projects, and even if they could raise enough funding this way, the methods were detrimental to students’ pocketbooks. Therefore, many institutions began outsourcing new housing projects to 501(c)(3) corporations in order to retain their tax-exempt and debt financing status and to improve efficiency (Bekurs, 2007).
According to Bekurs (2007), 94% of community college administrators who had campus housing cite housing as a major factor in increasing full-time enrollment, and 91% said that housing is important to provide access to long distance students. Therefore, given the fast paced increase of community college enrollment over the past two decades, the emphasis of the Obama administration and public opinion on attaining a college degree, and the obvious need for housing at these institutions, community colleges should consider outsourcing their housing needs in order to lower housing costs.
Bekurs, G. (2007). Outsourcing student housing in American community colleges: Problems and prospects. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 31(8), 621-636.
