Friday, December 4, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET

Strategic Planning & Financial Stability

Occupancy rarely follows the plan. Whether a campus is facing declining demand, changing enrollment, and empty beds, or waitlists, late enrollment surges, and more students than housing can accommodate, leaders must make high-stakes decisions before all the answers are available.

Occupancy is about far more than an opening-day percentage. It affects revenue, staffing, facilities, capital planning, service levels, and the student experience. Small shifts in demand can have significant financial consequences, while the resulting decisions can profoundly affect students, families and employees.

Join us on December 4, 2026 when Peter Trentacoste will share lessons from both sides of housing volatility – drawing on nearly three decades of experience – from rebuilding demand during enrollment decline and navigating major revenue disruption to achieving historic occupancy levels, responding to late enrollment surges and restoring housing operations to financial health.

Participants will gain a practical, adaptable framework for making sound decisions when reality differs from the forecast. Learn how to separate facts from assumptions, evaluate multiple scenarios, identify the levers available to your campus, establish decision thresholds and communicate difficult choices with clarity.

Whether your campus is trying to fill empty beds or find beds it doesn't have, this session will help you navigate occupancy volatility with greater confidence, strengthen financial sustainability, improve operational performance and make difficult decisions without losing sight of the student experience.

Topics Covered

Leave the webinar prepared with strategies to confidently:

• Read the occupancy signals earlier by identifying the leading indicators that reveal demand direction before the opening occupancy percentage makes the outcome obvious.
• Build scenarios instead of relying on one forecast by translating enrollment, contracts, cancellations, yield, and bed availability into a practical range of financial and operational outcomes.
• Choose the right levers for the conditions by matching recruitment, pricing, policies, bed mix, waitlists, overflow strategies, expense controls, and service decisions to the specific problem being solved.
• Connect occupancy decisions to financial sustainability by estimating revenue exposure, understanding break-even implications, and aligning short-term actions with long-term capital and operational health.
• Lead difficult decisions with humanity by protecting transparency, fairness, dignity, and student trust when financial or capacity pressures require changes that affect people.
• Use AI as an analytical partner by applying AI to data comparison, scenario preparation, financial projections, assumption testing, and executive communication while maintaining strong human review.
  

Presenter

Peter Trentacoste is the Executive Director of Residential Life at Louisiana State University and a senior housing leader with nearly three decades of experience across flagship and regional public institutions. At LSU, he leads an 8,800-bed residential operation with an annual budget exceeding $90 million. He oversees more than 800 full-time and student staff. His career includes major capital programs, occupancy strategy, and auxiliary financial leadership in housing systems ranging from 1,850 to 8,800 beds.
Click here for full bio.