OCTOBER 8-11, 2010
2010 ACUHO-I Business Operations Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina - program presentations
The Student Housing Landscape - Trends and Changes
Fair Housing Law: Impact on Student Apartment Operations
Scion consulting team members Eric Luskin and Katharine Lennox will present two programs at this year’s ACUHO-I Business Operations Conference, which hosts student housing professionals working in the assignments, information technology, conference services, marketing and business segments. “The Student Housing Landscape” will cover emerging trends based on Scion’s consulting work on nearly 100 campuses throughout North America, with additional insights from Dr. Tom Kane, Director of University Housing, Appalachian State University. Highlights include student preferences for room design when cost is a factor, financial and ownership models, and design components intended to strengthen educational outcomes. “Fair Housing Law” will address federal regulations governing marketing, assignments, policies and procedures as applied to apartment-style student housing, both on- and off-campus; the program will be co-presented with Dr. Doug Hallenbeck, Executive Director of Housing, Clemson University.
2010 ACUHO-I Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas - interest session presentation
Affiliation Agreements between Schools and Off-Campus Housing Providers
Jason Taylor and Sarah Samuels, members of Scion’s consulting team, will partner with Shannon Staten of the University of Louisville to discuss the use of “affiliation agreements” to increase the quality or quantity of student housing options when time, land and/or funds are tight for schools. These arrangements are less formal and require less risk for schools than typical privatized projects or master leases, while still growing and/or diversifying student housing on or around campus.
InterFace Student Housing Conference, Chicago - co-keynote presentation
How Demographics and Data Translate to Dollars and “Sense”
The leaders of North America's premier student housing consulting firms will headline InterFace Student Housing, a national information and networking conference, in a unique joint keynote presentation. Robert Bronstein, President of The Scion Group, and Paul Brailsford, CEO of Brailsford & Dunlavey, will discuss how student housing professionals can translate hard demographic data, surveys and focus groups into cogent plans for housing that works for students, institutions and the investor/developer's bottom line.
OACUHO Spring Conference, Lakehead University, Ontario - interest session
The Student Housing Landscape - Trends and Changes
At the Spring 2010 Conference of the Ontario Association of College and University Housing Officers, Scion consulting team members Sarah Samuels and Eric Luskin will discuss emerging trends in student housing. The presentation is based on Scion’s work on more than 90 campuses throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the U.K., and will focus on three areas of notable change in campus housing during the past ten years: student preferences for room design when cost is a factor; financial and ownership models; and design components intended to strengthen intentional educational outcomes.
StudentHousingBusiness.com: “The Discontinuation of Indirect Debt”
Moody's Investor Services shook the world of public-private partnerships for student housing with its special comment, Privatized Student Housing and Debt Capacity of US Universities, in which it eliminated the previously popular “indirect debt” category of credit evaluation for housing developments. In industry publication StudentHousingBusiness.com, Jason Taylor, a Senior Associate in Scion's consulting practice, explains that despite appearances, “nothing's changed.”
APRIL 15-16, 2010
RealShare Student Housing Conference, Irving, Texas - panel presentation
A University's View of Public-Private Partnerships
Increasing demand for new and improved student housing, decreasing state support, desire to establish housing programs on traditional commuter campuses and community colleges, and depressed endowments virtually everywhere, all make public-private partnerships increasingly attractive to schools and their foundations. Having advised dozens of schools nationwide on such partnerships, Scion Senior Vice President Eric D. Luskin joins representatives of the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and the University of Louisville to discuss recent transactions and the elements that attract and repel schools' interest in collaborating with developers.
ACUHO webinar: What’s the Impact of the Fair Housing Act on Student Apartment Operations?
Simply treating everyone “fairly” may no longer be sufficient to avoid exposure under Fair Housing law. Tune in to hear Scion Senior Vice President Eric D. Luskin and Doug Hallenbeck, Executive Director of Housing at Clemson University, discuss “steering” and “reasonable accommodations” in the context of apartment-style student housing, including the differences between on- and off-campus operations. This session will benefit apartment professionals, chief housing officers, general managers, assignment and marketing staff, and housing and residence life personnel of all levels.
InterFace Student Housing Investment and Finance Conference, New York - panel discussion
The “End-User” Perspective: College and University Presidents & CFOs Offer their Perspective
Scion Senior Associate Jason Taylor will moderate a panel of college and university presidents, CFOs and business officers discussing on- and off-campus student housing and the challenges they face in developing and operating campus housing that is both differentiated and revenue-generating. The panelists will also consider their need to monetize land and housing, advantages and disadvantages of public-private partnerships with respect to financing and control, and the likelihood of increased roles by private developers, private capital or institutional partners to help address housing needs in the face of sagging endowments and state funding cuts.
Northwest Association of College and University Housing Officers Annual Conference, Yakima, WA
Protecting Diversity in Housing: An Overview of the Fair Housing Act & the Americans with Disabilities Act
Scion consulting team members Eric Luskin and Katharine Lennox, along with colleagues in housing management at Washington's Green River Community College, will present to practitioners at the NWACUHO annual conference. The program, which was selected by the conference program committee for its focus on two important federal laws and their application to student housing operations, includes Scion's expertise regarding the differences of contracting with students in by-the-bed versus per-unit environments, along with the key matters of “steering” and “reasonable accommodation.”
Student Housing Business magazine: “Looking Back, Looking Ahead”
Having been involved with nearly $2 billion dollars of student housing development, consulting and operations during the past ten years, Scion President Robert Bronstein shares his thoughts on the impact of current economic conditions on student housing investments in “Looking Back, Looking Ahead,” a featured perspective in the January-February 2010 issue of Student Housing Business.
