Student housing operates on its own field. Unlike traditionalapartments, student housing has a leasing schedule set by theacademic calendar and is priced per bed, not per unit. Thesedetails will make pricing student housing assets more challengingthrough the economic dislocation caused by the coronaviruspandemic, compared to traditional apartments.

"Most property management systems are designed for theconventional apartment market and do not take the anomalies ofstudent housing into consideration," Jake Jarman,COO for Redstone Residential, tells GlobeSt.com."We lease by the bed rather than by the unit and have anentirely different leasing season – one that correlates with theacademic school year. At current, it is difficult to be agile withpricing. Another challenge we see as we are setting yearly budgetsis we don't necessarily have the pricing information ofour competitors during the rate-setting process."

Already, university systems are announcing online classes forthe fall semester. In California, the University of Californiasystem and the California State University system, for example,have already announced distance-education for fall 2020. "Like allindustries, student housing will have to adjust to factors beyondour control for a little while," says Jarman. "The situationremains fluid. Many decisions as to when students cansafely come back are still in the making and will depend on the ebband flow of the pandemic timeline. What is encouraging is thatschool will resume in full capacity at some point—it's just amatter of when."