In Spring 2022, the University of Rochester engaged a design team and Scion Advisory Services to complete a Student Housing Assessment Study.
In collaboration with the Design Team, Scion used various investigative and information-gathering tools to complete the study. This included defining the project’s objectives and design drivers, conducting stakeholder and student focus groups, examining University housing data, developing and administering an online survey, analyzing the off-campus rental market, calculating demand, and peer benchmarking. The qualitative and quantitative data collected informed the initial proposed campus scenarios and financial modeling. Subsequently, this data provided a comprehensive analysis of the proposed programmatic changes’ potential effects on bed counts, cash flow, and future capital projects.
Through a collaborative and iterative process, the team provided three possible scenarios for re-envisioning the UR Housing program. These scenarios differed slightly in the phasing approach relative to the proposed renovation and de-densification (for programmatic improvements), while the primary difference was the financing and delivery method. Through the Options Analysis, the University had the data and respective impact of implementation through a fully self-funded approach or a combined self-funded and public-private partnership.
In addition to the Student Housing Assessment Study, Scion completed an operational review and provided recommendations to align with institutional mission and objectives while also addressing student experience concerns and challenges faced by the administration. These recommendations ranged from changes to the rental rate structure to increase equity with no net change in cash flow to how to shift from a non-auxiliary to an auxiliary model at the University’s request.