Research and Assessment

Insights gained through trusted and vetted research are critical to your success. ACUHO-I is committed to the creation, dissemination, and advancement of knowledge that informs policy and practice around campus housing and broader higher education issues. We encourage scholarly inquiry and welcome the opportunity to partner with practitioners, faculty, and students to further these goals. 

ACUHO-I’s collaborative research demonstrates the value of campus housing on the student experience while funded research grants and endorsed studies increase awareness of the most pressing issues facing campus housing.

As more campus housing departments rely on data-driven decision-making, the Campus Housing Index has proven to be an invaluable tool to assess and evaluate virtually every aspect of their programs alongside peer and aspirational institutions. Whether it is student outcomes, occupancy rates, staffing structures, compensation models, construction trends, or any number of other factors, benchmarking is a great resource to assess and report where your operation has been, where it is, and where it is headed.

Funded Research Grants

2024 Call for Proposals

The 2024 period for ACUHO-I funded research proposals was March 1 – April 7. Applications are no longer being accepted. All applicants will be notified of their status by the end of May 2024 and the grant recipients will be publicly announced in June 2024. Thank you to everyone who submitted a request. Questions? Email research@acuho-i.org.

Research Agenda

In alignment with the ACUHO-I Strategic Plan and with the support of the ACUHO-I Research Committee, three areas have been identified as the most pertinent to delivering students quality learning experiences, facilities, and services. 

Public-Private Partnerships

• The nature of public-private partnerships and their effect on the student experience.
• The mission-driven value and true financial cost/benefit to students and auxiliaries regarding public-private partnerships.
• The residential experience at campuses that have both public-private partnership facilities and campus-operated facilities.
• The impact of student interactions on student learning.

Student Outcomes

• Learning outcomes related to the student living experience and how they can be assessed and measured.
• Outcomes for students living on-campus versus off-campus (e.g., skill development for students living in each living situation).

Student Success

• Summary research and benchmarking data that provides evidence of the costs and benefits of living on-campus versus living off-campus (e.g., time to degree, student engagement, academic success, student satisfaction, alumni-giving, etc.).
• Effective residential engagement efforts for persistence, retention, academic success, and well-being.
• Impact of living on-campus for historically marginalized student populations and how the experience could be improved for these student populations and their families.