Student housing never sleeps. Residents flow in a constant loop—arriving, studying, heading to class, ordering food, hosting friends, opening gates at 1 a.m., and moving out in massive waves every August. In that kind of environment, access control isn't just a security tool—it's the backbone of operational sanity. And with Gen Z expecting everything to live on their phones, student housing operators now face a fundamental shift in how doors, gates, and buildings should work.
We sat down with Gatewise CRO Joe Summers to answer the most pressing questions about modern student housing access control—from mobile credentials and Apple Wallet integration to addressing security concerns and meeting the expectations of Gen Z residents.
Joe Summers: Here's the reality: the old "phone, wallet, keys" routine has become just "phone" for most students. Nearly 80% of Gen Z regularly use digital wallets—the highest rate of any generation. Ten percent rarely or never carry a physical wallet, and 70% prefer cashless transactions. They're checking their phones around 144 times daily.
When 67% of renters say they're interested in or wouldn't rent without keyless smart locks, according to the 2024 NMHC/Grace Hill Renter Preferences Survey, that tells you everything. Among renters under 35, 78% consider smart-home technology a key factor in choosing housing. For students specifically, having a mobile ID is now a determining factor in school selection.
So when operators ask whether to invest in mobile access control technology, my answer is simple: your prospective residents already expect it. The question isn't whether—it's how quickly you can get there.
Joe Summers: Student housing faces a perfect storm of security challenges that traditional systems simply can't address.
First, there's the sheer volume of movement. According to Campus Safety and Security Data, over 62,000 burglaries, robberies, and vehicle thefts occurred across U.S. college dorms in a recent two-year period, with burglaries making up more than half of all on-campus crimes. Traditional keys can be copied at any hardware store with zero audit trail—that's a massive vulnerability.
Then you've got the roommate shuffle. Students change rooms mid-semester, friends crash for weekends, and guest access is constant. A modern access control system handles all of this with temporary PIN codes, mobile-generated visitor passes, and QR codes that expire automatically—all with full audit trails.
The 24/7 nature of student life adds another layer. Late-night study sessions, early morning workouts, after-hours emergencies—your access control system needs to work seamlessly around the clock. Cloud-based platforms like Gatewise enable remote management whether you're in the office or at home, so you can grant a vendor temporary access or check who entered at midnight through centralized logs.
Smart gate access control has become an absolute necessity for addressing these challenges at scale.
Joe Summers: This is where the difference becomes dramatic. Student housing experiences 50-80% annual turnover, but unlike conventional apartments where turnover distributes throughout the year, student housing concentrates this into a two-week window.
With traditional systems, you're physically collecting, rekeying, and redistributing hundreds or thousands of keys in this compressed timeframe. With the cost of turnover averaging just under $4,000 and traditional key changes taking several days, the inefficiency compounds quickly during peak move-in/move-out periods.
Modern access control solutions automate what was previously a manual nightmare. When a lease status changes in your property management system, credentials are automatically provisioned or revoked. The resident gets a notification with app download and credential activation instructions. No key handoffs, no locksmith calls, no chasing down unreturned fobs.
Properties using mobile keys report 65% fewer student lockouts compared to fobs and cards, and smart locks eliminate rekeying entirely—saving up to $150 per unit every turnover. That's time and money your team can redirect to unit preparation and resident experience.
Joe Summers: Based on what operators tell me, three features rise to the top every time.
Mobile credentials and keyless entry are non-negotiable. Students who've never known life without smartphones expect to open their door the same way they pay for coffee—with their phone. Mobile apps, PIN codes, and RFID cards are replacing outdated keys and clickers. Who wants to dig through a backpack for a gate clicker?
Property management system integration is the second must-have. Your access control products need to talk to Entrata, Yardi, RealPage, or ResMan seamlessly. Entrata offers native Access Connect functionality creating a one-app, keyless entry experience. Yardi Voyager interfaces with over 100 third-party vendors with automatic updates every 15 minutes. When credentials sync automatically with lease status, you eliminate an entire category of manual work and human error.
Remote management with real-time monitoring completes the picture. Gatewise's cloud-based platform enables remote management of gates, doors, and shared spaces like study rooms or gyms. Whether you're in the office or out grabbing coffee, you've got total control. Detailed audit trails mean nothing slips through the cracks—you can see who accessed what door, when, and with what result.
For visitor management, virtual intercom systems and video verification simplify everything. Students can verify guests remotely and issue temporary digital keys—no more passing around gate codes.
Joe Summers: The ROI data here is compelling. Let me break it down by category.
Lockout savings: Traditional lockout costs range from $50-$75 during business hours to $100-$150 for after-hours incidents, with external locksmith emergencies reaching $150-$300. When one of the largest U.S. universities deployed mobile credentials, lockouts dropped from "a few per day to several per month"—nearly eliminating the problem entirely.
Operational savings: According to a Parks Associates whitepaper, smart door locks and electronic access control saved an average of $80,000 per year, per building through reduced maintenance requests and eliminated lock/key replacement costs. Properties report 10% fewer maintenance requests after implementing smart access.
Revenue gains: Properties can command $20-35 more per month for smart amenities, with 85% of property owners reporting 10-30% rent premiums. When 60% of surveyed students say they'd be more likely to select a residence offering mobile access control, that's a competitive advantage in leasing.
Staff retention: With multifamily turnover averaging 33% annually—maintenance technicians at 39.2%—reducing time spent on low-value key management tasks improves retention and morale.
Joe Summers: This is actually a false trade-off. Mobile credentials strengthen security while enhancing convenience—they don't compromise it.
Think about the authentication layers. The user's Apple or Google ID ties to the device. Smartphone PIN or biometric verification adds a second factor. Each credential presentation is validated for authenticity by the reader. Students are far less likely to loan their phone than a campus ID card, and unlike proximity cards, mobile credentials cannot be duplicated.
NFC technology provides the highest security level with a range under 2 inches, using AES-128 encryption. Bluetooth options extend range with AES-256 encryption available—one manufacturer notes this would take over 3 trillion years for a supercomputer to decode.
When a device is lost, revocation is instant—one click versus the days or weeks required to collect physical keys. That also reduces liability exposure from lost keys and unauthorized access—a concern operators and their legal teams increasingly prioritize.
In an emergency, lockdown capabilities and instant first-responder access facilitate faster response times when every second counts. That's security and convenience working together, not against each other.
Joe Summers: Absolutely. Parents are often co-signers on leases and increasingly drive the "safety premium" in student housing.
When security now ranks higher than fitness centers and pools in student priorities, that's partly parent influence. They want to know their child is in a building with real security infrastructure—not just a deadbolt and a prayer.
The ability to show parents an app-based system with audit trails, instant revocation, and emergency lockdown capabilities closes leases. It's an emotional differentiator that justifies rent premiums and reduces parent anxiety during move-in tours.
Joe Summers: The higher education market has essentially served as the proving ground for what's coming to multifamily broadly.
Nearly 3 million higher education students have adopted digital IDs, with 175+ institutions now offering NFC-enabled mobile credentials. At the University of Tennessee, 70% of all transactions are completed via mobile phone rather than plastic credentials. After 18 months, they had 10,000 unique devices provisioned and 4.6 million transactions completed.
The adoption curve tells the story. By 2019, students had already completed 1.25 million meal purchases and opened over 4 million doors using iPhone and Apple Watch credentials. Students graduating from universities with mobile ID systems now expect the same convenience in their first apartments.
For commercial access control systems and conventional multifamily, this creates both a roadmap and a competitive imperative. The global smart lock market stood at $2.82 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $17.10 billion by 2034—a 19.75% CAGR. Approximately 55% of new student housing developments now integrate smart access control as standard, and conventional multifamily is following.
The technology that once seemed cutting-edge is quickly becoming table stakes.
Joe Summers: This is a legitimate concern, and it's why choosing the right access control products matters so much.
Modern systems use cellular technology that ensures reliability even during power outages—critical for properties where internet infrastructure might be spotty across sprawling garden-style layouts. Gatewise hardware includes uninterruptible power supply options and remote diagnostics that keep access functioning even during outages.
The best gate access systems are designed for high-traffic environments. Park West at Texas A&M University implemented access control across approximately 1,100 doors serving 3,500+ residents. The SALTO Virtual Network technology enables access updates without physical lock visits—important when you're managing that kind of scale.
Battery life monitoring through IoT connectivity means you know when locks need attention before they fail. That's proactive maintenance rather than reactive emergency calls.
Joe Summers: Seamless integration is what separates a good system from a great one. Operationally, this is where the rubber meets the road.
The technical workflow automates what was previously a nightmare: PMS triggers an event when lease status changes, API connection transfers resident data to the access control platform, credentials are automatically provisioned or revoked, and notification goes to the resident with app download instructions.
Sync frequencies vary by platform—some offer near real-time sync, others update every 5-15 minutes, some operate on hourly data feeds. For student housing with compressed turnover windows, faster sync matters. Gatewise's PMS integrations eliminate manual credential management entirely.
Entrata's Access Connect creates that one-app experience where residents manage everything—rent payments, maintenance requests, and door access—in a single interface. Yardi Voyager's interface with 100+ vendors gives operators flexibility. RealPage and ResMan similarly support leading access control vendors.
For campus housing specifically, integration with student information systems enables unified credentials. Transact Campus provides NFC-based mobile credentials supporting Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and Samsung Wallet, with lifecycle management covering dining, access, library, fitness, and retail through a single credential.
Joe Summers: Multi-site operators—whether managing 5 properties or 50—need portfolio-wide visibility and control. This is where cloud-based systems really shine.
With Gatewise, you can monitor all properties from a single dashboard, generate cross-portfolio reports, and standardize access policies across your entire footprint. When you're rolling out a system portfolio-wide, you want consistent hardware, unified training, and centralized support—not a patchwork of different vendors at each site.
The economics scale favorably too. Negotiating enterprise pricing, streamlining vendor management, and reducing per-property implementation time all improve as you grow. For regional operators expanding through acquisition, the ability to quickly integrate a new property into your existing access control infrastructure accelerates stabilization.
Joe Summers: Understanding what NOI really means in this context requires looking at both the expense reduction and revenue enhancement sides.
On expenses, you're eliminating physical credential costs—no more ordering, tracking, and replacing fobs and keys. You're reducing staff time spent on key management, lockouts, and turnover logistics. You're cutting locksmith costs and after-hours emergency calls. Properties report these savings totaling $45,000-$91,000 annually depending on unit count.
On revenue, modern access control enables rent premiums. 85% of property owners report achieving 10-30% premiums for smart amenities. At $20-35 more per month across hundreds of units, that impact on net operating income is substantial.
There's also the occupancy angle. When 60% of students say they'd be more likely to select a residence with mobile access control, and security now ranks higher than fitness centers and pools in student priorities, you're filling units faster and reducing vacancy loss.
For anyone asking "what is NOI" in the context of technology investment, this is a case where the right access control system directly improves both sides of the equation—lower operating costs and higher revenue potential.
Joe Summers: The next wave integrates artificial intelligence, predictive capabilities, and expanded biometric options.
Predictive maintenance represents a near-term opportunity. IoT-connected locks can report battery levels, usage patterns, and maintenance needs automatically. One system's wellbeing audit trail includes inactivity reporting that flags when doors haven't been opened—useful for student safety monitoring. The global predictive maintenance market will surpass $12 billion by 2025, with potential to cut maintenance costs by 25% and reduce downtime by 35%.
Fingerprint door locks and facial authentication technologies are gaining traction in campus settings. The biometrics market is projected to grow from $45 billion in 2024 to $173 billion by 2033. Modern biometric readers authenticate 20-25 faces per minute.
Security camera installation integrated with access control creates unified security ecosystems. AI-enabled camera systems tied into emergency lockdowns provide capabilities that weren't possible even a few years ago.
Edge computing adoption for access control has reached 44%, enabling AI models deployed onto devices for real-time decision-making. 81% of institutions are implementing Zero Trust security frameworks.
The trajectory is clear: mobile credentials as baseline expectation, with AI-enhanced security, predictive operations, and optional biometric layers for high-security applications.
Joe Summers: The market has spoken. With 175+ institutions offering mobile credentials and 55%+ of new developments including smart access as standard, operators still managing physical keys face higher operational costs, increased security vulnerabilities, competitive disadvantage in leasing, and misalignment with tenant expectations.
Whether you're comparing condo vs apartment security needs or evaluating commercial access control systems for a campus portfolio, the fundamentals are the same: your residents expect smartphone access, your operations benefit from automation, and your bottom line improves with the right system.
The most successful operators view gate access control not as a security expense but as a competitive differentiator—one that improves operations, reduces costs, enhances safety, and attracts the next generation of residents.
The shift is happening now. The only question is whether you lead it or chase it.
Looking to modernize access control at your student housing property?Book a Demo to learn how smartphone-based access can transform your operations and resident experience.
Gatewise offers a simple and modern gate entry system that provides residents with a mobile app and managers with a cloud-based management portal.
