Student Housing and the Cost of Higher Education

Student housing rents are a large component of university costs and high rents contribute to student housing insecurity. Using data covering U.S. student housing markets from the 2014–2022, this paper studies changes in student rents and investigates why they vary by location and university. Private-market student housing costs increased by 15% more than national inflation during this period and closely tracked local rents for general-purpose housing, suggesting close integration with the rest of the housing market. In contrast, on-campus rents increased by only 7% and showed little correlation with local rents in the broader housing market. Enrollment increases raised the cost of on-campus but not off-campus housing. We show that universities insulate students from local housing market pressures, effectively providing implicit housing subsidies, particularly in urban areas and at top-ranked institutions.

Working Paper