American Campus Communities

American Campus Communities (American Campus), is one of the largest developers and managers of private student housing in the United States. In 2004, American Campus became the first student housing real estate investment trust, (REIT) to become publicly traded. Currently, American Campus manages 145 properties with over 92,000 beds, many in partnership with universities on campus property. Some developments also involve the use of third party nonprofit owner/lessors, which allow tax-exempt bonds to be used to finance the developments.

American Campus is part of a growing trend of independently operated housing serving university students; in particular, cash-strapped public universities have found it financially beneficial to allow outside companies to assume the debt generated by housing projects, freeing up capital for the university to spend on other facilities. For example, American Campus developed and manages two properties for the University of California, Irvine, Vista del Campo and Vista del Campo Norte, that are owned by the nonprofits EAH Housing and Collegiate Housing Foundation, respectively. While under state law, any money charged by the University of California directly for housing must be used for housing purposes, the rent paid by EAH and the Collegiate Housing Foundation for use of campus property can be used for any purpose. Further, the university bears none of the debt use to finance the property, yet uses these private owned facilities as part of the housing guarantee it extends to students.

External links

* [http://www.studenthousing.com American Campus Communities Website]
* [http://www.vistadelcampo.com Vista del Campo Website]
* [http://vdchousing.googlepages.com/ VDC Residence Life Website]