Not only education itself is becoming a business, everything related to it, e.g. student housing, is also becoming a business. Now, we got luxury condos for students. Frankly, these student condos are far better than the condos for the general public.
It seems like that everything in this North American & even European society is becoming multi-tiered:
1. healthcare: rich pay for the private services, while the poor suffer in public hospitals & clinics,
3. residences / housing: rich live in housing & places which are safer & well-maintained, whereas, poor is put into places where infrastructure is coming apart at the seams, safety & security is just for the show (if it exists in the first place), & industries nearby adversely affect the health of those poor people,
4. employment: as I've blogged several times, rich get ahead using their network, regardless of their competence & intelligence, while poor is left behind to fend for some jobs at the bottom of the pile, if there are any jobs left to fend for, in the first place.
5. what's next? Quality & availability of food, water, & heck, even air ... with increasing pollution, better quality products for the rich & lower quality for poor. Other utilities (electricity, sewage infrastructure) ... less public funds for maintenance of infrastructure, so blackouts for poor & rich get uninterrupted supply of electricity.
“The idea of luxury living as a student is kind of mind-boggling. I can’t imagine tanning in between classes,” says Tyler Valiquette, a graduate of the University of Guelph. As a commissioner for the university’s Central Student Association, Valiquette investigated the impact of a proposal by Toronto-based Abode Varsity Living to build a student complex with two linked towers on 17,000 sq. m near the Guelph campus, which he says caters to the 1%.
He calculated rents in the new buildings are likely to be $700 to $800 a month per person in order for investors to make their money back on the condo suites, double the amount he & most of his friends pay for accommodation now. That gentrification could come at a price to other students who cannot afford Abode’s development. “The emergence of these buildings with hundreds of units could really affect rent prices in Guelph, so that’s a huge concern.”
It wasn’t until the early 21st century that private companies began tapping the student housing market. The first was a Texas-based developer called American Campus Communities, which created a Canadian Campus Communities subsidiary soon after its initial public offering in 2004. According to senior vice-president Melinda Farmer, there are 2 projects in Calgary, 2 in Waterloo (the Luxe I & Luxe II are just four blocks from the Icon development) & 3 more in Ontario: Oshawa, Hamilton & London.
“Part of this is driven by the increased numbers of international students,” explains Scott Mabury, the University of Toronto’s vice-president of university operations. “They’re much more likely to take up our first-year residence guarantee. So we have need for more student housing—that’s part of the reason why we want to build a new residence.” As enrolment is growing, endowments are shrinking & government funding is drying up. Universities want more students, but can’t afford to house them all.
Meanwhile, in Vancouver, a local entrepreneur is turning a luxury hotel into housing for international students with rents between $900 & $2,500 in a city with less than 1% vacancy rate. CBIT Education group has 9 similar projects in the planning stages & wants to bring 5,000 new beds onto the market. Viva Suites, which already come with full kitchens with marble countertops, ensuite laundry & views of the nearby mountains & marina, will be renovated to provide 230 beds, while the developer plans to add airport shuttles, daily hot meal service, & access to tutors.
As universities are being run more & more like businesses & it gets easier & easier to get in, Valiquette says they attract a different kind of customer—one with lots of money. The students who choose to live off campus from the beginning will miss out on the residence experience that enriches & augments the classroom lessons & adds to the richness of university life.
Aside from their impact on cities & communities & the university experience, student condos represent a more fundamental problem. By prioritizing comfort, they are undermining the reason universities exist. For the vast majority of students, furthering their education is something they have to do in order to survive, not something they do because it comes with a tanning bed. The view that luxury is the defining aspect of student housing is rooted in the belief that money, not work, is the key ingredient to a student’s success. In this consumer model of education, getting a degree is a lifestyle that is chosen & ultimately purchased.
Until recently, the spirit of student housing remained largely intact. You took a room however it came & ate whatever they served you. You did these things knowingly, even willingly, because you understood that the struggles you encountered, the discomforts you endured, were a rite of passage.
It seems like that everything in this North American & even European society is becoming multi-tiered:
1. healthcare: rich pay for the private services, while the poor suffer in public hospitals & clinics,
2. education: stark differences in quality of education being provided in public & private schools, colleges, & universities,
3. residences / housing: rich live in housing & places which are safer & well-maintained, whereas, poor is put into places where infrastructure is coming apart at the seams, safety & security is just for the show (if it exists in the first place), & industries nearby adversely affect the health of those poor people,
4. employment: as I've blogged several times, rich get ahead using their network, regardless of their competence & intelligence, while poor is left behind to fend for some jobs at the bottom of the pile, if there are any jobs left to fend for, in the first place.
5. what's next? Quality & availability of food, water, & heck, even air ... with increasing pollution, better quality products for the rich & lower quality for poor. Other utilities (electricity, sewage infrastructure) ... less public funds for maintenance of infrastructure, so blackouts for poor & rich get uninterrupted supply of electricity.
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High-end high-rises like Icon, in Waterloo, Ont., are the latest student housing trend in Canada. Owned by private companies & marketed to wealthy families & investors—who buy them & turn them over to management companies to rent to students—so-called “student condos” come with yoga studios, tanning beds, movie theatres, billiards rooms & rooftop patios. Since they emerged onto the Canadian market 3 years ago, they have drawn wide-ranging criticism from neighbourhood groups, some universities, & even the students they want to attract.
High-end high-rises like Icon, in Waterloo, Ont., are the latest student housing trend in Canada. Owned by private companies & marketed to wealthy families & investors—who buy them & turn them over to management companies to rent to students—so-called “student condos” come with yoga studios, tanning beds, movie theatres, billiards rooms & rooftop patios. Since they emerged onto the Canadian market 3 years ago, they have drawn wide-ranging criticism from neighbourhood groups, some universities, & even the students they want to attract.
“The idea of luxury living as a student is kind of mind-boggling. I can’t imagine tanning in between classes,” says Tyler Valiquette, a graduate of the University of Guelph. As a commissioner for the university’s Central Student Association, Valiquette investigated the impact of a proposal by Toronto-based Abode Varsity Living to build a student complex with two linked towers on 17,000 sq. m near the Guelph campus, which he says caters to the 1%.
He calculated rents in the new buildings are likely to be $700 to $800 a month per person in order for investors to make their money back on the condo suites, double the amount he & most of his friends pay for accommodation now. That gentrification could come at a price to other students who cannot afford Abode’s development. “The emergence of these buildings with hundreds of units could really affect rent prices in Guelph, so that’s a huge concern.”
It wasn’t until the early 21st century that private companies began tapping the student housing market. The first was a Texas-based developer called American Campus Communities, which created a Canadian Campus Communities subsidiary soon after its initial public offering in 2004. According to senior vice-president Melinda Farmer, there are 2 projects in Calgary, 2 in Waterloo (the Luxe I & Luxe II are just four blocks from the Icon development) & 3 more in Ontario: Oshawa, Hamilton & London.
“Part of this is driven by the increased numbers of international students,” explains Scott Mabury, the University of Toronto’s vice-president of university operations. “They’re much more likely to take up our first-year residence guarantee. So we have need for more student housing—that’s part of the reason why we want to build a new residence.” As enrolment is growing, endowments are shrinking & government funding is drying up. Universities want more students, but can’t afford to house them all.
Meanwhile, in Vancouver, a local entrepreneur is turning a luxury hotel into housing for international students with rents between $900 & $2,500 in a city with less than 1% vacancy rate. CBIT Education group has 9 similar projects in the planning stages & wants to bring 5,000 new beds onto the market. Viva Suites, which already come with full kitchens with marble countertops, ensuite laundry & views of the nearby mountains & marina, will be renovated to provide 230 beds, while the developer plans to add airport shuttles, daily hot meal service, & access to tutors.
As universities are being run more & more like businesses & it gets easier & easier to get in, Valiquette says they attract a different kind of customer—one with lots of money. The students who choose to live off campus from the beginning will miss out on the residence experience that enriches & augments the classroom lessons & adds to the richness of university life.
Aside from their impact on cities & communities & the university experience, student condos represent a more fundamental problem. By prioritizing comfort, they are undermining the reason universities exist. For the vast majority of students, furthering their education is something they have to do in order to survive, not something they do because it comes with a tanning bed. The view that luxury is the defining aspect of student housing is rooted in the belief that money, not work, is the key ingredient to a student’s success. In this consumer model of education, getting a degree is a lifestyle that is chosen & ultimately purchased.
Until recently, the spirit of student housing remained largely intact. You took a room however it came & ate whatever they served you. You did these things knowingly, even willingly, because you understood that the struggles you encountered, the discomforts you endured, were a rite of passage.
