Student Housing Amenities That Improve Student Experience and Campus Living

Student housing amenities are the features, technologies, and community spaces that improve the student living experience in dorms, residence halls, and on- or off-campus student apartments. Today’s students, especially Gen Z, expect more than just a place to sleep. They want high-speed internet, flexible study spaces, smart security features, fitness centers, convenient package delivery, and more modern amenities that support both academic success and personal well-being.

As colleges and universities compete to attract and retain students, investing in modern student housing amenities has become increasingly important for student housing management. The right amenities can improve student satisfaction, strengthen campus communities, support enrollment goals, and create a safer, more connected living environment.

Curious what amenities students actually want most from modern student housing? Below, we explore seven tech-enabled student housing amenities that are transforming the college experience.

Key Takeaways:

• Gen Z students expect tech-enabled conveniences like high-speed internet, smart security, package lockers, and digital-connected study spaces.
• Wellness-focused amenities such as fitness centers, and collaborative lounges, help support student well-being and the campus community.
• Smart student housing investments improve operational efficiency while creating a safer, more connected living experience.
• Universities that offer modern, convenience-driven amenities and green technologies can better stand out in today’s competitive student housing market.

What Students Actually Want From Student Housing Amenities

When choosing a student apartment or on-campus housing community, Gen Z students expect a living experience that blends convenience, technology, wellness, and community into one seamless environment. For universities and other student housing operators, this shift creates both a challenge and an opportunity.

Modern student housing amenities now play a major role in shaping the overall college experience. In fact, many students evaluate amenities before they even consider factors like square footage or proximity to campus. Features like fast internet, reliable maintenance, study space access, and 24-hour amenities have quickly become must-have amenities rather than optional perks.

The perfect student apartment or dorm now needs to support academic success, social connection, and personal wellness, all while delivering the experiences and everyday conveniences students have come to expect from their home environment.

Wi-Fi or 5G Connectivity

There are few things as regularly noted as a top priority for young people as a strong Wi-Fi signal, making this less of an amenity and more of a necessity for any college student. From laptops to their cellphones to other electronic devices, just about everything they care about nowadays runs on it. Consider all of the activities a student might need high-speed internet access for:

• Doing homework
• Participating in online classes or lectures
• Connecting with friends or family on social media or via video call services
• Downloading movies, music, and videos
• Playing video games
• Watching various media via streaming services

Plus, most every student will have multiple devices. Among the things college students want most is accessing the internet wherever they may be (from their dorm room to the computer lab, study lounge, or building fitness center). This means that your campus’ Wi-Fi infrastructure needs to be set up to handle a high volume of regular users. Multifamily Executive writes:

“The most important thing in student housing has become the Internet. And the second-most important thing is the Internet and the third most-important thing is the Internet.”

Knowing this, many campuses have proactively upgraded their Wi-Fi network, signed up for  premium bandwidth, or worked with networks to install high-speed internet and 4G LTE or even 5G services.

Digital Fitness Centers

In response to some alarming mental health trends (particularly for Gen Z), many colleges have placed special emphasis on the importance of the physical and mental health of their student body as they prepare to return to campus in the fall. They believe that focusing on easy gym access will help students manage the stresses of college life and help improve their academic performance.

While most every campus typically invests in a primary gym and/or rec center, a new tech-centric approach that many schools are turning to is smaller, cutting-edge fitness centers in each dormitory. These community amenities can be used for a variety of fitness-related purposes to improve student life, with the most common applications including:

• Yoga studios
• Peloton and/or spin rooms
• Kickboxing
• Pilates

In an effort to improve and digitize health and fitness facilities in college campus settings, these fitness centers use on-demand video technology with TVs or projection screens that allow students to select a workout and start sweating. By providing a convenient option (particularly for busy students), campuses are able to help reduce traffic in the main gym where most cardio machines and weights are located.

Smart Parcel Lockers

While most university mailrooms are capable of handling the various letters, bills, magazines, etc. that students receive daily, many are not equipped to manage the growing influx of student, staff, and faculty packages. This overflow has resulted in the following issues:

• Unorganized stacks of packages filling up the mailroom or student mail services center—leading to potential loss, damage, or theft.
• Hours of time spent by mail services staff accepting, sorting, storing and/or delivering packages.
• An inefficient student internet package pick-up system with limited hours, which can often require students to wait in crowded lines to retrieve their deliveries.

Seeing that this problem was only getting worse, many colleges turned to the obvious solution: intelligent parcel locker systems, like the ones offered by Parcel Pending by Quadient.

Parcel Pending by Quadient smart lockers have a built-in tracking system to help colleges and universities around the world reduce operational expenses and streamline the parcel distribution process. Our Campus Hub™ solution can help your institution gain:

• MORE Efficiency – Our smart locker solutions are designed to streamline student mail and package delivery as well as other on-campus asset exchanges, saving teams valuable time and reducing the space needed to accept, sort, and fulfill deliveries. Our systems can also talk to other software already on campus so that other departments like the library, bookstore, IT department, cafeteria/dining hall, food pantry, and more can easily plug in.

• MORE Convenience –Our smart locker solutions are always-on, extending access to student deliveries up to 24/7 without additional staffing. Colleges and universities can also leverage existing asset tracking platforms (such as those used for mail distribution) to keep communications unified on a single platform. Students can receive notifications about deliveries via text or email.

• MORE Security –Photo capture and optional 24/7 video surveillance monitors all activities at the locker system; signature-required features are also available. This helps our solutions ensure full chain-of-custody and tracking via a single, cloud-based system for all goods and assets – even those that do not go in a locker – distributed throughout campus.

Tech-Centric Study Rooms

Students need a perfect place where they can work — either in groups or as individuals — free from distraction. Common rooms or dorm rooms are often filled with interruptions, which is why universities have made a concerted effort to not only add a study lounge or individual study rooms to campus housing, but to add smart features that improve learning, collaboration, and focus. Here are a few examples of technology that are often included in these spaces:

• Sound proofing
• Desktop computer systems that students can use
• Printers and other office supplies
• Smartboards for collaboration or study groups

By including all of these features in a study space, institutions can help contribute to an environment that fosters scholarship – and can even help promote schools.

Modern Laundry Facilities

For years, there were few things that students disliked more than doing laundry. They’d either wait until they could go home or wear everything they owned until they were forced to take action. It makes sense why students viewed university laundry services unfavorably, especially since the campus housing on-site laundry facilities typically included:

• Expensive, coin-only units
• A limited number of washers and dryers
• Students who left their items in the machines well after their laundry load was finished
• Significant opportunity for their clothes to be moved without permission or even stolen
• Only moderately functional washers or dryers

Today, however, student housing operators are leveraging new technology in order to optimize this oft-hated task. As Nxtbook writes:

“ESU decided it would turn to technology that students were quite familiar with: an app. Utilizing networking that links all machines and sends information to the cloud, the app allows students to not only check machine availability, but also to see where washers and dryers are in the cycle; the app also alerts them when their loads are nearing the end of their cycle.”

Smart washers and dryers can help greatly improve the student laundry experience by optimizing the entire process, resulting in positive feedback from students and housing staff alike. And although this may seem like a small change, an upgrade like this can be a major draw for prospective students.

Keyless Room Entry

Keys are a hassle. And while they worked at one point, individually keyed bedrooms are becoming obsolete in the digital age. Now, a growing number of universities are turning towards systems that utilize fobs, student IDs, or smartphones to allow students to gain access to their living spaces and unlock their doors. As American School and University puts it:

“For many years, the solution to this problem [lost keys] has been keyless access-control systems that use swipe or contactless cards to allow authorized users into a campus facility. As technology improves and card systems can be equipped with more functions, the appeal of card-based access-control systems has grown for administrators and facility managers.”

These systems increase convenience, security and accountability, as well as prevent attempted break-ins from simply copying a key and using that to illegitimately gain entry.

Green Technologies

When Gen Z goes to college, they are often more environmentally conscious than any previous generation. They care deeply about their ecological impact and their energy consumption. As such, they also want to live in a place that shares their eco-friendly principles. According to U.S. News:

“Increasingly, as universities are seeing more student demand for such programs [environmental studies], they are acknowledging that this is part of their obligation as the entity that is preparing students for success in the future… In addition to curbing carbon emissions, some schools have seen environmental interest and activism translate into initiatives to ban plastic water bottles and build or refurbish campus buildings so that they are LEED certified. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, meaning facilities have met certain energy-efficiency requirements.”

A growing number of colleges are turning to green technologies in dorms or student apartment complexes to increase sustainability, such as:

• Solar panels
• Energy smart appliances
• LED lighting
• Low-flow showerheads and toilets
• Retrofitting buildings’ heating and AC

Universities understand that the upfront dorm and apartment investments will not only teach students about conservation but will also make an impact on the university’s carbon footprint.

The Future of Student Housing Amenities

As student expectations continue to evolve, universities and student apartment operators must think beyond traditional housing models. Today’s students are looking for living environments that combine technology, wellness, flexibility, and community into one cohesive experience. From smart lockers to tech-enabled fitness centers, there are a host of student housing trends to be aware of to improve student living for your college or university.

The most successful student housing communities are no longer defined solely by location or appearance. Instead, they are differentiated by how effectively they support student success, convenience, and quality of life. From high-speed internet and university parcel lockers to digital-connected study areas, modern amenities now shape how students evaluate and commit to their “perfect campus.”

 

Sources:

1. Batdorf, Joseph. Multifamily Executive. Survey Says: The Top Student Housing Common-Areas and Amenities. (2013, August 5). https://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/property-management/apartment-trends/survey-says-the-top-student-housing-common-areas-and-amenities_o.
2. Devon, Kayla. Multifamily Executive. Head of the Class: 5 Key Student Housing Amenities. (2014, November 11). https://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/technology/high-end-student-housing-amenities-just-expected_o.
3. Radtke, Randy. “Laundry Revolution”. Talking Stick, vol. 36, no. 6, July/August 2019, pp. 13. https://read.nxtbook.com/acuho/talking_stick/july_august_2019/laundry_revolution.html.
4. Kennedy, Mike. American School & University. Keyless Access. (2009, April 1). https://www.asumag.com/safety-security/access-control-visitor-management/article/20850602/keyless-access.
5. Murtagh, Alison. U.S. News & World Report. Why College Campuses Are Going Green. (2019, September 17). https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2019-09-17/why-college-campuses-are-going-green.