Literature Review Blog #3

Citation

Laidley, Thomas M. "The Privatization of College Housing: Poverty, Affordability, and the US Public University." Housing Policy Debate 24.4 (2014): 751-768.

Summary

This article details a study done on 20 major college towns and the relationship between students living off campus and poverty rates, as well as housing affordability. The study found that there is a strong positive association between off campus population and poverty rates, as well as a modest positive association between off campus population and housing affordability. This article states that due to the privatization of colleges, and the increased need for income, more people are enrolled, in order to keep up profits, but they don't always make sure they have enough accommodations for these students. This is causing an increase in off-campus housing, and the privatization of that market as well. 

Author

Thomas M. Laidley- graduated from Boston College and went to grad school at New York University, wrote about different sociological concerns involving housing, as well as various other sociological subjects

Key Terms

studentification- basically all of the social, environmental, and economic changes that happen when a town is flooded by students that attend college in that town

public universities- the privatization of which is causing an influx of students, showing a positive correlation to poverty as well as housing affordability

Quotes

"Even if students do not come from poor families, and even allowing for the potential for social mobility engendered by their college education (although there is ample evidence that this, too, is waning), many are still in economically precarious situations and are often living independently financially" (pg 756)

"While hypothetical scenarios where students bid up rents because they cannot obtain university housing may hurt local residents, this may also be a negative outcome for the students, who also are forced to pay more for shelter." (pg 763)

"With schools increasingly left on their own to operate as de facto businesses as funding disappears, institutional competition intensifies, and enrollments and housing needs steadily increase, not only are poverty rates likely to increase and affect the provisioning of ever-shrinking funding, but housing strategy also remains an open question" (pg 765)

Value

This article provides an insight on the effects of privatization of higher education that I have not thought about. I didn't think about the fact that due to the privatization of higher education. colleges want to obtain as many students as possible, and possibly neglecting the areas in which they are located. Students also may end up paying more for living arrangements because of this. This article shows another way that privatization of higher education is affecting students, as well as affecting the towns they reside in.