From Public Good to Profit-Driven Asset: The Financialization of Student Housing and Its Urban Implications

• In Event: Beyond the Ivory Tower: Urbanism and Higher Education

Proposal

While on-campus living was once a defining feature of the American college experience, today's students are increasingly living off-campus in large, profit-driven housing. With features like rooftop pools, game rooms, and high-tech lounges, Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA)—backed by large capital pools such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds—now accounts for one-third of college housing in the U.S. Between 2014 and 2021, PBSA transactions rose from $3.2 billion to over $10.5 billion, transforming student housing from a basic need into a profit-driven asset (Amber, 2024; Statistica, 2025). This shift is especially significant for international students, who often make up the primary residents of these buildings.

Drawing on an ethnographic study of international students in the U.S. Midwest, this paper argues that the trend of being "educated in luxury" is not a result of individual choice. Instead, it is shaped by larger forces of the commodification of higher education and the financialization of real estate.

The design of PBSA reflects its role in housing a transient, highly mobile student population. Urban geographers have observed similar “short-term rental urbanism” in luxury rental markets (Wachsmuth and Weisler, 2018; Aalbers, 2022). PBSA fits within this paradigm. Its aesthetic—hotel-style lobbies, concierge services, fully furnished units—creates a sense of placeless luxury, where students experience a standardized form of housing that is as interchangeable as their university locations. International students are especially desirable tenants for PBSA developers because they are more likely to face high stress when securing housing. These students are willing to pay up to 20% more in rent for well-located and well-managed housing, often pressured to sign leases early out of a fear of being homeless (Unilodgers, 2023).

For cities, PBSA developments offer a valuable new tax base, aligning their fiscal goals with private developers' interests in high-value, high-rent housing. For investors, PBSA is a stable, inflation-resistant asset with steady demand driven by enrollment and predictable lease cycles. This flow of capital is a form of what Harvey (1982) calls the "secondary circuit" of accumulation, where capital seeks refuge in the built environment during times of financial instability. It also signals a crucial transnational spatial fix, where the transformation of downtowns into high-rise student enclaves is not a coincidence but a fundamental part of the neoliberal spatial order.

This commodification of college living is symptomatic of a deeper cultural shift: the commodification of studenthood. When student housing becomes primarily a vehicle for financial return, it becomes detached from its academic mission. In this model, the "student" disappears from student housing. PBSA, therefore, is an architectural and financial infrastructure that anchors a transnational spatial fix that ties together global capital, urban fiscal strategies, and the tuition-dependent universities. In this transformed landscape, PBSA not only reinforces the objectification of international students but also reshapes access, affordability, and belonging in higher education.

Author

• Shanshan Jiang-Brittan, University of California, Berkeley