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

Social Media Adoption Soars in Higher Ed

October 25, 2012

As mentioned in a recent CNN article, “according to a study by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 100% of universities surveyed use social media to communicate with students, up from 61% in 2007-08. The study found that 98% of the responding colleges have a Facebook page and 84% have a…

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College Affordability and Transparency Center

October 22, 2012

I wanted to send this link to our Blog readers because it is a resource that I like a lot. The information is provided by the U.S. Department of Education in response to The Higher Education Opportunity Act.  If you want to know where your College/University stacks up in the ranking of Tuition and Fees…

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Avoiding the “Noise”

October 11, 2012

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about things that higher education professionals like to see on Twitter.  I contacted many people in the #HigherEd community and came to some pretty neat conclusions about using Twitter as a professional development tool. But when I actually contacted these folks, I not only asked them…

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Step Out Moment

October 9, 2012

On a typical day at the office in the week leading up to final exams, I received a phone call on my direct line.  The caller seemed startled when I answered the phone. “Hello, this is Doug Brown.” There was a short pause and then the caller said. “Is this the president of Capstone Management?…

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What We’re Reading – The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking

October 5, 2012

Last month, I wrote a blog about a book I was reading by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird, entitled “The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking.”  Since that blog was posted, we interviewed one of the authors, Ed Burger, on our “Join the Conversation” podcast (September 24th). Today I’m writing one last blog about an…

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The Best On-Campus Dining in America

October 3, 2012

TheDailyMeal.com recently published an article titled “The 52 Best Colleges for Food in America.”  Since we know a good meal plan is critical to the success of a strong on-campus housing program, this is an interesting article to discuss here. Of particular interest are the following results of this study (direct quotes from the article):…

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What We’re Reading: IHE Article “Friendless in America”

September 28, 2012

Colleges and Universities are looking to international recruiting as a real growth opportunity.  In regions of the country where the number of high school graduating seniors are flat or in decline, relying on the traditional first time full time student to stabilize and grow enrollments is just not enough.  This article speaks to a more…

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Podcast

Join the Conversation Podcast Episode 4 – Interview with Edward Burger

September 24, 2012

In this episode, we interview the author of the book “The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking,” Edward Burger. Edward is the Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Mathematics at Williams College, and is an educational and business consultant. Read his full bio below. Capstone’s Alton Irwin wrote a blog post on the book recently.  You can find that…

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What Does Social Media Mean to You?

September 21, 2012

What does social media mean to you?  What do you use it for?  What do you get out of it? If you asked these questions to 1000 people, you very well could end up with 1000 different answers.  But if you look closely, those 1000 different answers might not be so different after all.  There…

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“Know Before You Owe”

September 19, 2012

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has developed a one page guide called a “shopping sheet” to help parents and students make informed decisions about the cost of a year in college.  This guide takes data from multiple sources and offers an easy to read overview of the schools on the list for consideration.  The guide…

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What We’re Reading – The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking

September 13, 2012

I’m reading a great new book by Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird, entitled “The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking.” We’re working with one of the authors, Ed Burger, to schedule an interview with him in the next few weeks on our podcast feature, “Join the Conversation.”  So, I am hoping you will soon hear…

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