Are you investing in a college town?

[Jc Galang]

I've been reading news of universities/schools moving towards a new way of education wherein a portion of the year will be done through Zoom/telecommuting.

1. Is anyone invested in a college town where a portion of your portfolio is specifically renting to college students? If so, how are you doing?

2. How do you think this situation will shake out in the long run for investors?

Thanks for your time!

[Will Fraser]

HI @Jc Galang, I work with a few different university-focused investors on the agent and management sides and I can say: you're curiosities and concerns here are echoed across the states.

I'll share some skeptic-driven thoughts about #2 -- thinking of Universities as businesses (which they are in a fairly pure sense.  Some are quasi-governmental, others private, and still more pure governmental, but they are businesses with revenue streams, assets, etc) I find it exceedingly unlikely that they will accept failure and cessation of their proven and profitable business model at the hands of a technology that has existed sufficiently since the advent of webinars.  

I would anticipate the assertion that colleges will go "virtual" as a stop-gap effort to get the public on board  to start up the semester amidst categorical chaos and opaqueness.  Perhaps too it is an unwitting experiment that will test if the public at large will accept paying the same hourly rate for the education without the expenses of classroom space, utilities, sports, student life, etc.  Shoot, if the public IS willing to pay the same rate for online devoid of the university experience, I hope we can buy a good University EFT soon :)