The University of Akron has finalized a deal to privatize its on-campus housing.
The 50-year agreement gives the university $91.6 million to pay down its debts and makes Radnor Property Group, based in Philadelphia, responsible for its dorms.
The agreement encompasses 2,323 beds on the university’s campus, and a press release from Radnor called it one of the largest student housing public-private partnerships in the country.
As part of the deal, the university intends to mothball three of its smallest dormitories — Ritchie, Orr and Sisler-McFawn halls — and make improvements to its two towers, Spanton and Bulger halls, said Misty Villers, the university’s vice president and chief financial officer.
The agreement includes $50.6 million in improvements to the residence halls, and Spanton and Bulger will get the bulk of that money. The renovations will include upgrades to the bathrooms, going from “gang-style” stalls to private pods, Villers said Friday. A connector will be built between the two buildings to enhance the sense of community between them.
Work on Bulger is expected to take place next fall, and on Spanton, in spring 2027. While construction is being done on those residence halls, students will be moved to Ritchie, Orr and Sisler-McFawn, Villers said.
Additional improvements to the university’s other dorms will include new carpet and furniture, painting and the construction of kitchenettes in some common areas, Villers said.
“This is pretty much exactly what the university had in mind,” she said.
Paying down debts on UA’s campus
The deal will allow the university to pay down the debt on its nine residence halls, which Signal Akron reported last year was $80 million. It will also allow for the payment of other debt. Last spring, the university had debts of $378 million — larger than its $290 million endowment.
Elizabeth Yeager, a controller at Radnor, said she couldn’t provide additional context for the claim that the agreement was one of the largest student housing public-private partnerships in the country and the company wasn’t prepared to divulge more information about the deal. Villers said the size of the deal might be notable because all of the beds on campus are included in the agreement.
Villers estimated there are 2,170 students who live on campus now; the three smaller dorms house about 200 people total. She said by closing them, the university is able to improve its on-campus community by spreading students across six residence halls and streamlining costs.
“It seems nice when you have a full dorm,” she said. “It’s definitely more economical, too.”
She said that, for the time being, there are no plans to demolish any of the three smaller residence halls, but it’s possible that could change and one or two might be razed in the future.
Public-private partnerships are common at universities
The deal comes as privatization is increasingly common in university settings.
Matthew Lambert, the senior vice president for university advancement at the College of William & Mary and author of “Privatization and the Public Good: Public Universities in the Balance,” said previously that, under the old model, the university’s room and board fees would go toward paying down building debt. When a private company takes over, those room and board fees go to the business instead of the university.
Villers said in Akron’s agreement, money from student housing payments will be directed to a nonprofit, and any money collected beyond the expense of maintaining the residence halls will be returned annually to the university.
There will also be funds set aside for deferred maintenance and other needed improvements. The university will save an estimated $33 million in maintenance through this deal, officials said this spring, and is expected to take in roughly $14 million over the first 10 years of the contract.
Lambert said costs aren’t likely to change dramatically for students, something Villers underlined as well. She said while the state will allow for some increases in room and board costs as renovations take place, the University of Akron has among the most affordable housing for public universities in Ohio, and she doesn’t expect that to change.
Villers said, too, that the university will continue to run residence life, and that no jobs would be lost in the transition.
Suggested Reading
Deal could make University of Akron more competitive
Students are increasingly demanding more amenities when it comes to housing, said Edward St. John, an emeritus professor at the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher Education.
St. John said previously that making such improvements can make a university more competitive.
“Typically, students wouldn’t know whether it’s public or private,” St. John said. “With upgrading and modernization, students will have a better experience.”
Villers said that’s part of the university’s hope — she said the changes to housing are part of Akron’s revitalization plan.
“Other than improvements, they might not know the difference,” she said.
In the statement announcing the deal, David Yeager, the CEO and managing partner at Radnor, said he thought “this housing modernization initiative will serve as a strong recruitment tool for prospective students.”
Villers said survey results from students were part of the decision-making process about what improvements the university should focus on.
The university did not seek student input, administrators said this spring, but in 2024, when the idea was first floated, students told Signal Akron an outside company might perform maintenance more quickly.
The day-to-day operations will be managed by a combination of Radnor and Capstone On-Campus Management, called Radnor Campus Management. The lease itself is with Provident Resources Group, a nonprofit that serves as a borrower.
The deal was financed by the Development Finance Authority of Summit County with $158.5 million in tax-exempt and taxable bonds.