The purpose of this evaluation was to assess the performance of the student housing screening question used in the Group Quarters Advance Contact (GQAC) operation and identify potential changes to the screening question and to the Group Quarters (GQ) type definitions on which it is based.

GQ type codes are used to differentiate GQs based on their characteristics as well as on operationally relevant distinctions. In response to developments in university student housing in recent decades, the Census Bureau created a new GQ type code to distinguish student housing structures that are owned and/or managed by a private entity from those that are owned by a college or university. This new GQ type code was implemented in the 2020 GQAC operation for testing purposes.

The objectives of this evaluation were to understand how administrators interpreted the GQAC screener question used to classify student housing, explore the characteristics of student housing owned and/or operated by universities and by private entities in order to inform potential improvements to the type codes, and learn about student housing administrators’ experiences with the 2020 Census.

In debriefings with university and property management company administrators, it was found that the key concepts operationalized in the screener question  (ownership, management, leasing) do not allow for mutually exclusive response options in cases where student housing may be operated by universities and private entities together under various combinations of management and ownership.

Administrators’ descriptions of the various arrangements with private entities suggest that a distinction based on whether a university plays a significant role in the operation or governance of a student housing structure or whether it is owned and operated by private entities with little or no involvement of universities may be more useful for Census Bureau operations.