Publication Date

7-1967

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to bring forth relevant information needed to determine the feasibility of an investment project for a married student housing complex on the campus of Western Kentucky University. Only the demand side of the market is analyzed; a potential investor will have the construction and land costs for such an enterprise at his disposal. With the information presented in this study it is hoped that a decision to construct a housing complex will be forthcoming. The study group attempted to present information that will allow a potential investor to make an intelligent decision as to the profitability of the investment. It is hoped that the critical questions concerning the investment have been answered by this study.

The time period in which the study was carried out was January, 1967 to June, 1967, i.e., the second semester of the 1966-67 school year. The information presented was obtained from a single sample of the married population. Seventy married family units (8.4 percent of the population) were stratified according to class standing (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, and Graduate) and then picked randomly within the class stratifications. A more desirable method would have been a sequential sampling method, but the time and expense of the method did not allow its use.

Future studies can be carried out in order to substantiate the data presented at this time. The estimated size of the investment would seem to warrant at least one more comprehensive examination of the market in order that a more exact market character can be determined.

The study group contacted state institutions that have married housing units in order to see if any useful information could be obtained from their experience in the determination of market character and size of their married students. None of the schools contacted had conducted a market study prior to the construction of such a housing unit. Discovering this factor did not disturb the study group. It was assumed that the market character at the various educational institutions would be significantly different with reference to income, rent, family size, etc., that no useful comparison could be made. The reason for this assumption rests on the fact that the educational institutions differ in such things as type and size of the graduate program and community size and industrial development. These factors have a direct influence on the family unit's income, numbers, and the rate of growth of the married student body. The purpose of contacting the various institutions was to examine the methodology used in the study of the market for married student housing.

Disciplines

Behavioral Economics | Business | Demography, Population, and Ecology | Economics | Higher Education Administration | Real Estate | Sociology | Urban Studies and Planning

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