By Susan Strobel Hogan
The occupancy management process of putting the heads in beds has many moving parts and is often described by assignments staff as part art and part science. Calculating the numbers, communicating the policies and deadlines, and predicting where a campus will wind up at a given point in time includes a lot of separate steps. For some occupancy managers, there is an additional component: partnering with a different campus to house that institution’s students.
Partnerships between campuses to house students are not uncommon and could be a growing trend. Most of these partnerships have two goals: filling beds on the host campus and assisting future transfer students by supporting them as they work towards fulfilling admission requirements in order to enroll at the host institution.
There are some critical things to consider in this type of venture. First, it is important to have a written partnership agreement or memorandum of understanding. Representatives from both campuses should work together to create the document, which should clearly spell out the goals of the partnership, as well as expectations and tasks for staff on each campus. These discussions need to include those who can speak to the financial and legal aspects of the agreement, including those in residence life, student services, and student conduct. Second, pulling all the details together seems like a daunting task, but it might not be as cumbersome as one would think. The expectations for academic performance and conduct will likely be very similar for the students on each campus. Some details can be borrowed, and some will have to be written from scratch with the staff of the partner school, but it can be done.
There are some common elements among campuses that have successfully navigated this process. For most programs, the partner campus is responsible for selecting students to live on the host campus. The partner campus vets interested students to ensure that they are in good standing and meet enrollment requirements for their own campus or anything else required for them to be eligible to participate. After confirmation, the student completes the housing application process with the host campus. At Clemson University, the information for enrolled first-year students on both their campus and their partner’s campus is submitted to their enrollment management program, and they are then tagged with a specific code. After accepting Clemson’s invitation to the program with their partner campus, students are issued credentials for both campuses, which allows them to access Clemson’s housing portal. The housing application process for the partner students frequently mirrors the process used by host campus students, with the addition of any program-specific requirements.
When it comes to the bottom line, partner students generally pay room rent to the campus where they are enrolled in classes, not to the host campus. One important result is that the costs of attendance and financial aid are configured for the students not just for enrollment at their home campus, but also for housing and dining costs.
Many of the successful partnerships share the goal of helping students transfer to the host campus, so there is special attention paid to creating a welcoming environment and providing access to some of the facilities and activities enjoyed by students enrolled in the host institution. Generally, this includes being able to purchase parking passes and meal plans and gaining access to recreational and wellness facilities. For some, that means the student will pay an additional fee for service, but the resources can be made available. Where a meal plan is required for campus residents, campuses have recognized that students enrolled at a partner school are technically reverse commuters on the host campus. Parking and meal plans are configured accordingly.
The success of these programs depends on several factors, especially on communication and a well-written articulation agreement or memorandum of understanding.
Some campuses are also providing academic support to ensure that students transfer successfully. The University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) and Central Community College (CCC) have made this a component of their partnership. Central Community College serves more than 25 counties and offers housing on three of their campus locations. A fourth location, the Kearney Center, opened in 2017 with land for future expansion, but without housing options for students. Many students enroll at the Kearney Center because they intend to transfer to UNK. As a result, the housing staff there saw an opportunity to assist Central students with housing needs and eventual transition to enrolling at UNK. Students at the Kearney Center are able to take advantage of academic support and tutoring services on the UNK campus as well as those offered by Central. Trelana Daniel, director of residence life at UNK, states that their residential curriculum and residence life program immerse students in social and academic support. “Our residential curriculum assists CCC students in finding those skills they need when they graduate and step out to find that professional position they are preparing for. Our residence life program assists students in finding their personal strengths, the resilience they need to navigate hardships, the ability to navigate professional environments, and the opportunity to find support in their community. Many of our campus partners will spend time in the halls helping students find resources they need and do so seamlessly.”
Academic advising is also a crucial component of these partnerships, and it is a hallmark of Clemson University’s Bridge to Clemson Program. As a conditional admission program, it serves as a dedicated pathway for students to attend classes at Tri-County Technical College (TCTC) and then transfer to Clemson. Students initially apply to Clemson, are invited by Clemson to participate in the Bridge program, and then enroll as first-year students at Tri-County. Those who complete 30 hours with a 3.0 GPA at Tri-County have automatic transfer admission to Clemson without any further application. Bridge students meet with academic advisors at both Clemson and Tri-County during their Bridge year and are allowed to complete their associate’s degree after matriculating to Clemson through a reverse articulation agreement between the campuses.
Orientation is an important part of the process of ensuring that students know what is expected of them while living on campus and what services they can utilize. When it comes to behavior and conduct, students enrolled at a partner campus are held accountable to the student conduct code for both campuses. This is spelled out in the partner agreements and must be articulated to students as well. Partner and host campuses also need to have a strong understanding of jurisdiction when determining where a conduct case would be heard.
In the spirit of sharing information clearly and efficiently, The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) has organized information about guidelines and services online for their own students as well as those at their partner campus, Mercer County Community College (MCCC), and leveraged the Canvas learning management system and created an online course for Mercer students. In addition to highlighting services at MCCC, such as tutoring and student organizations, the course provides information about how students can access health center and mental health services on both campuses. According to Tina Tormey, director of residential education and housing and adjunct instructor at TCNJ, a key component of the course is the students’ acknowledgement that student information is shared between the two campuses. She also notes that the resident assistant on the Mercer floor is also able to enroll in the Canvas module as part of training so that they can help residents with resources on both campuses.
Another shared goal of these partnerships is offering affordable housing to future transfer students. Though this has always been an option to offer for all students, it’s even more important now, at a time when the cost of living is high and campuses are looking for ways to increase enrollment. At the University of California, Riverside (UCR), for example, they live with the reality that housing in the state is both expensive and scarce. Though the state has seen record growth in enrollment and many campuses are building student housing, the demand for affordable housing is still a concern statewide. In 2021, the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program (HESHG) was created to address the needs of low-income students across the state. One aspect of the program is adding more of what they call intersegmental housing – housing that will allow students to transfer across institutions without needing to change residences. The housing grant program has approved funding for four such projects, including one based on a partnership between the University of California, Riverside and Riverside City College (RCC), one of four community colleges in the Riverside Community College District. This project has been named the North District and is being completed in phases.
Currently under construction, the North District Phase 2 complex will house 1,568 students in four buildings when it opens in the fall of 2025. According to UCR Associate Vice Chancellor for Auxiliary Services Heidi Scribner, the complex will have just over 600 spaces for low-income students. Half of those spaces will be reserved for RCC students, with the remainder of beds designated for UCR students. The first phase of the North District at UCR opened in the fall of 2021 and was built using a public-private partnership model. Since building the first phase, changes to building regulations and public funding (like the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program) in California have made it more advantageous for UCR to build the second phase without relying on a public-private partnership. Scribner notes that the new units will help provide housing options for a waiting list of more than 3,000 UCR students when the building opens next year.
Overall, many of these partnerships are seeing success. According to Daniel, during the first year of the program, UNK housed about 10 students. According to Ashley Weets, dean of students at the Central Community College Grand Island campus, the ideal plan is for up to 20 Central students to have housing on the UNK campus. Weets acknowledges that students still want an on-campus housing option, and this offering has attracted an increased number of 18-19-year-old students to the Kearney Center. At Clemson, after more than 20 years of partnering with Tri-County to welcome transfer students to their campus and after 10 years of providing them with housing, the typical size of the entering class is 5,000 first-year Clemson students and 1,000 Bridge students enrolled at Tri-County. And although the program at The College of New Jersey is just in the first year, Tormey reports that they have exceeded an initial goal of housing 20-25 Mercer students as more than 37 applied, filling a floor at TCNJ this fall. Additionally, an interest list is already available for spring.
The success of these programs depends on several factors, especially on communication and a well-written articulation agreement or memorandum of understanding. Tormey explains their success this way: “I think part of the success is the way we developed the partnership. It's not transactional; it's based in a shared value around student success. The other aspect is related to need. The college we partnered with has international students, and they also have an aviation program that is relatively rare, so students come from substantial distances. With that distance comes a need for affordable housing. Additionally, there is word of mouth. As students have a good experience, they talk about it with their peers, and then their peers get interested as well.” Leasa Kowalski Evinger, interim assistant vice president of housing and residence life at Clemson, agrees and acknowledges that their success stems from a very deep level of commitment and investment in the program from all involved. “We spend a great deal of time building relationships, communicating with one another, and continuously evaluating our processes to ensure a seamless experience for staff and students. And I’ll point out that this is not easy – because we are working across so many different interfaces. But our priority is the same, and that’s the key.”
Supporting transfer students has always been important, but these partnerships take it to the next level. They are not only providing a well-supported path for students to achieve a four-year degree but are also boosting the success of campuses by increasing occupancy and enrollment.
Susan Strobel Hogan is the senior associate director for assignments at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
