The Student Housing Matters blog explores ideas with leaders in higher education and the student housing profession. This is the place to find stories from those who have worked in the field for many years, podcast interviews, and videos about relevant topics in the student housing world.

It’s about matters relating to on-campus student housing, as well as why quality on-campus student housing really matters. We want this blog to serve as a forum for sharing ideas and insights about how your on-campus student housing can do things beyond simply housing students. How it can be used as a more powerful tool to recruit and retain students on your campus. We look forward to you joining us in the conversation.

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Posts by: Alton Irwin

Wake-up Call for On-Campus Housing

June 11, 2014

Here is an article published earlier this spring in Inside Higher Ed with extremely pertinent information for anyone who deals with traditional on-campus student housing. Based on the research forecast shown below by the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of students estimated to enroll at degree granting institutions is still expected to grow…

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Blog

American Council on Education Fellows Closing Retreat

June 4, 2014

Capstone On-Campus was pleased to once again be a sponsor of and participate in the Closing Retreat for the American Council on Education (“ACE”) Fellows program, which took place earlier this week in Atlanta.  Doug Brown, Monique Newman, and I had a great time interacting with the Fellows on a housing planning exercise, as well as…

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Podcast

Building Student Community & the VP of Student Affairs Living in a Dorm

June 3, 2014

Chatting with us today is Dennis J. Shields, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He spoke with us about his experiences living in a dorm room as the VP of Student Affairs and about his successes in building a great foundation for student community on his campus. Dennis became Chancellor in 2010, after having served as…

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Balancing Act

May 31, 2014

In the world of Higher Education, we are often overly concerned with creating a work/life balance.  Many times we are told that this is the key to maintaining happiness in both our jobs and our lives. However, what if we look at it a different way? This article takes a moment to question that paradigm…

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But first, let me take a selfie!

May 21, 2014

For years now our society has been indulging in the “selfie” trend.  While the act of taking a selfie may be harmless in itself, this is usually followed by posting the photo online to numerous social media outlets and tagging individuals who may or may not be present.   As a college aged student, this happens…

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Is It Really Worth It?

May 16, 2014

In light of the discouraging news we read and hear about the rising cost of a college education, student debt, and dismal job prospects for grads – this was an encouraging report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco last week. Is It Still Worth Going to College? Mary C. Daly and Leila…

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Podcast

From Higher Education to the Weather Channel

May 12, 2014

A few podcast episodes earlier, we interviewed Lyndon State College President, Joe Bertolino for a second time. Dr. Bertolino mentioned the Lyndon State meteorology program and how Joe D’Aleo was a member of the faculty of Lyndon State and became involved in the beginning stages of the Weather Channel. So we reached out to Mr. D’Aleo…

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Dance Floors and Student Apathy

May 8, 2014

I LOVE to see some of the concepts from other industries being integrated into the programs of higher education conferences! Although I’ve appreciated quite a few in the PechaKucha format from ACPA, this has to be my favorite. It is a simple concept, easy to relate to, has a dynamic presenter and, most importantly, gets to the…

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Podcast

Interview with Freeman Hrabowski

May 5, 2014

Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, President of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County sat down with us for a fantastic interview about his background, practical advice to everyone in a leadership role, and the effect that on-campus housing has on his campus. Dr. Hrabowski began his career at UMBC in 1987 as Vice Provost, then Executive Vice…

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Um…uh…literally…

May 1, 2014

I recently read a great blog post by Ben Decker of Decker Communications on cutting out the “filler” words in our verbal communication. I must caution you. Once you read this, you will be painfully aware of the filler words you frequently use. In fact, when I was discussing this article with my Capstone colleagues,…

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