Tenant screening when renting to a group of students

[Greg F.]

My rental property is just being rehabbed and will be ready for tenants in the new year.
I've had investment properties for a number of years now, but always rented to family and friends, so this part is new to me.

The area is near a university so there are a lot of students looking for accommodations.  There are many houses being used as rooming houses (renting each room separately),  but I'm not interested in that approach.  First off these are illegal in my neighbourhood, and secondly, even if I tried to get away with it, the city is aggressively trying to get rid of these and it's simply not a risk I'm willing to take.

Therefore, I need to rent the house as a single unit, and I will likely end up with a number of student applicants, and I'm not sure what the best way to screen them is.  It's a 5BR 2.5bath unit for what it's worth.

I've reviewed the ultimate guide to tenant screening, but that is focused on renting to a single person / family.  Does the process change when you have a group of unrelated people like students renting a place?

Some specific questions I have:

1. How many people are actually on the rental agreement?  One, or all of the tenants?  Assuming everyone who is living there to be on the agreement, but that leads to the next question.
2. How do you verify income? Is it an aggregate from all the people on the agreement, or do you get one party (possibly with a co-signer) that has 3 times the rent as income?

Thanks!