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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Conferences

Blog

Summer Conferences on Campus: Recovery Starts Today

July 13, 2021

In the post, Summer Conferences on Campus: More than Extra Dollars, we explored the value proposition of summer conferences and what it brings to campus in addition to revenue. Understanding the full value proposition of summer conferences is important because it create the imperative of what we need to do next, which is focus on recovery.…

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Blog

COCM’s 2021 Virtual Annual Meetings

January 29, 2021

Every year, the employees of COCM come together in January and February to connect, share best practices, and learn about the latest trends in student housing. It is a time of joy for us because our staff is spread out across the nation throughout the rest of the year – from Boston to California! This…

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Podcast

The New Normal of Conference Services – with Christine Sismaet

September 1, 2020

The conference services team at the University of Washington was looking forward to serving 11,000 overnight guests and facilitating 200 overnight conference sessions this summer. But 2020 had other plans, and though the campus did not close, Christine Sismaet and her team had a very different season than expected.  Christine is the Operations Manager of…

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Podcast

Utilizing Conferences and Summer Programming for Income Growth

August 18, 2020

Conferences and summer programs offer institutions an opportunity to generate revenue that can reduce the financial burden placed on students during the academic year. And it’s not just housing – a strong, efficient summer program brings revenue to other campus entities as well, including dining services, athletics, facilities, and even academic departments. Developing these programs…

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Podcast

Marrying Access + Excellence in Higher Ed – with Dr. Eileen Strempel

April 24, 2019

How can we be elite without being elitist? Today, I’m joined by Dr. Eileen Strempel to discuss the marriage of access with excellence in higher ed. She shares her commitment to being an unabashed champion of transfer students and describes our responsibility to be responsive and welcoming to the shifting demographics of the student body.

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Podcast

Perspectives on Student Housing Facilities and Operations – Recorded LIVE at the 2019 Annual Meeting with COCM Assistant Directors

April 10, 2019

What all is involved in running a student housing site? And who are the people behind the scenes managing and operating all the jobs that need to get done? During the 2019 COCM Annual Meeting, we sat down with four assistant directors – with various roles, including building operations, maintenance, business operation, and residence life – to learn from their experiences and stories.

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Conference Season has Arrived!

March 4, 2016

The arrival of March marks the beginning of a busy spring, summer and fall full of opportunities for engaging with professionals and peers from around the country.  It is always exciting to peruse my conference schedules and see who I will get to hear as a keynote speaker, check out who will be presenting, and…

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