USH Communities

Legal name: University Student Housing

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
820571540
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
West Chester, PA, US
Phone
(610) 430-4988
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Undergraduate College (4-year)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$36,331,602
Expenses
$27,090,880
Assets
$177,947,979
Liabilities
$187,306,601

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • COL DEBORAH J CHASE (PRESIDENT)
  • THOMAS E MILLS IV (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DR JOAN M KAMINSKI (PRESIDENT (UNTIL 07/2024))
  • ROBERT PLUCIENIK (VICE PRESIDENT (UNTIL 07/2024))
  • MS DEBRA CORNELIUS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MS DEBRA CORNELIUS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $277,781 total reported compensation
  • MS CHRISTINA GERENZA (CFO): $204,137 total reported compensation
  • ALEXA LABRESCO (SR. DIRECTOR OF HOUSING): $164,711 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

At USH, we are looking for high-energy, passionate professionals who are not afraid of a challenge and love making a difference. Our team is all about delivering top-tier student housing and creating an experience our residents love.

What it reported doing in 2024

University student housing, llc ("ush") operates and manages student housing facilities for 2,962 residents for the benefit of west chester university of Pennsylvania ("wcu"). Ush manages six comfortable resident communities located on the west chester university campus. Ush is responsible for the day-to-day management of the communities. The residence life staff for each community handles all student-related issues and is managed by wcu. All ush communities are patrolled and monitored by wcu public safety. Each ush community features private and semi-private air-conditioned suites, an on-site fitness center, spacious student lounges and game rooms, free laundry at the residence halls, ethernet service, and full kitchen and vending areas.ush was at 100% occupancy for both fall 2024 and spring 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.4%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 97.1%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 25.4%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.57; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.05; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.5%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 69.4% of revenue deployed · 97.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $26.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $278K · 24 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.6M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.