Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Campus Housing Consultants Launch Strategic Planning Service

  • By Matt Jones
  • 06/26/24

Scion Advisory Services recently launched its new Strategic Housing Planning Service, a cost-effective and collaborative process that provides colleges and universities with a method to align its student-housing offerings with its institutional mission, according to a news release. The service takes into account the needs, hurdles, and possibilities across a full campus housing system, as opposed to the single residential facility that tends to be the focus of many feasibility or demand studies.

“We created this option to go beyond the limitations of a traditional single-building feasibility study by providing a complete assessment of a campus housing program,” said Scion Advisory Services Senior Vice President Jay Pearlman. “Significantly, for an institution not needing a full facilities condition assessment or a design exercise, a Strategic Housing Plan can provide the value of a full housing master plan at a reduced cost and in a much shorter timeframe. Our team is ready and eager to serve the higher education community with these new customized consulting services.”

The planning walks colleges and universities through their responses to critical issues like whether the current housing program supports the institutional mission; how to improve existing facilities to support current students’ needs and anticipate future ones; how to address aging facilities; how to discuss the relationship between aging facilities and student experience to university leadership; how to prioritize buildings for renovations, decommissioning, and reconstruction; how these moves could impact departmental cash flow; and available strategies and financing options to pay for repair, replacement, and construction, according to the news release.

“The COVID-19 pandemic caused many campuses to rethink the role of residential life. The Strategic Housing Plan addresses a notable void in the market for student housing planning services,” said Pearlman. “Our approach has been shown effective at institutions concerned with current conditions of housing facilities or the quality of the student experience, or who are working to improve their competitive position among peer institutions or with the off-campus market. A Scion Strategic Housing Plan provides a framework for future housing investments and could serve as a key first step in evaluating the viability of alternative financing, including public-private partnerships.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Vanderbilt to Partner with ABM for Campus Preservation and Modernization

    Vanderbilt University recently announced that it has selected ABM Performance Solutions for a preservation and modernization project at its New York City campus, according to a news release. ABM will deliver its end-to-end ABM Performance Solutions (APS) model to manage critical operations during renovation and maintenance.

  • Pitzer College

    Designing for Change in Higher Ed Learning Environments

    Higher education will continue to evolve, and learning environments must evolve with it. By prioritizing adaptable infrastructure, thoughtful reuse, strong energy performance, and wellness-centered design, campuses can create spaces that support learning today while remaining flexible for the future.

  • Harvard Announces Replacement Facility for Native American Program

    Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., recently announced that construction will begin this spring on a new home for its Native American Program, according to university news. The 6,500-square-foot, all-electric building will stand three stories and serve as the central hub for the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP).

  • 144-Year-Old High-School Campus Debuts New Academic Facility

    San Diego High School (SDHS) in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new student services and classroom building; the project is part of a larger SDHS Whole Site Modernization project that began in 2022.