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: Leigh Anne McGriff

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

Summer Conferences on Campus: More than Extra Dollars

June 29, 2021

When discussing the benefits of summer conferences, the first to come up is typically the additional revenue generated from underutilized resources in the summer months. However, the value proposition of summer conferences is much greater and can be used to leverage recruitment, employment, and create a sense of vibrancy on your campus during the summer…

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Podcast

Summer Internship Housing – with Emily Eskridge-June

February 16, 2021

We associate summer on campus with conference programs. But summer interns need housing, too, and many campuses are capitalizing on this need. Today, Emily Eskridge-June joins us to explain how she developed a thriving internship housing program at Cornish College of the Arts and what summer interns are looking for in a place to stay.

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Podcast

Facilities & Operations in Student Housing – with Patrick Shanahan

February 9, 2021

What does it look like to serve students from the facilities and operations side of student housing? What does it take to keep a residence hall complex well-maintained and running smoothly? Patrick Shanahan is the Director of Facilities and Administration at The Heights, Montclair State University’s newest residence halls complex. Patrick has worked at The…

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Podcast

Solving Complex Problems in Student Housing – with Kern Williams

February 2, 2021

LISTEN HERE: As you rise through the ranks of a career in student housing, you face more and more complex problems. Imagine, for example, taking on a site that has occupancy concerns, building issues AND staffing challenges. So, what do successful leaders do to avoid overwhelm and focus their energy on finding solutions? Kern Williams…

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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

Marketing & Leasing in the Student Housing World – with Brittany Oliver

January 26, 2021

How do you design a marketing plan that attracts residents to a particular student housing community? What if you’re responsible for promoting 35 different sites, each with their own unique culture and set of amenities? Brittany Oliver is the Site Marketing Coordinator for COCM, where she works with our 35-plus partner institutions and their onsite…

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Blog

3 Management Tips That Create A Rockstar Leasing Team

October 30, 2020

We asked COCM’s Student Housing Marketing expert, Brittany Pieper, for her top three management tips to create an amazing leasing team. There are so many things you can do day-in and day-out, but implement these three first — and see the difference in your student housing success. Serve More Than You Take Serve more of…

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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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