The partnership includes advertising on campus and lets students easily ship and store their belongings
By NOAH HARRIS — features@theaggie.org
On May 8, 2025, UC Davis announced a partnership with Storage Scholars, a university-focused company meant for storing or moving items for the summer. Advertising in several different locations on campus soon followed.
At the Tercero, Segundo and Cuarto Area Service Desks, large standing posters have been erected, with smaller boxes displayed next to them. Now, when students in student housing get packages or are locked out of their room, advertising for Storage Scholars will be in prominent view, giving the company significant exposure on the UC Davis campus.
Storage Scholars was created in 2017 when its founder was a first-year student at a university. Currently, the company works in collaboration with 72 campuses across the country and has completed over 40,000 moves. They recently went on Shark Tank, securing a deal from Mark Cuban worth 250,000 dollars in exchange for 10% of the company.
Advertising is a major part of Storage Scholars’ game plan. Richard Ronquillo, the director of marketing and communications with Student Housing and Dining Services (SHDS) at UC Davis, explained the types of advertising SHDS has done for Storage Scholars in a written statement.
“Part of the agreement with Storage Scholars included advertising,” Ronquillo said. “SHDS has advertised via flyers, displays, banner stands, emails, the Aggie Reader newsletter and the In the Know newsletter.”
Sam Chason, the chief executive officer of Storage Scholars, described the benefits of a relationship between a university and a company like Storage Scholars.
“Oftentimes it’s pay to play, so [universities] get a percentage of revenue, but that’s for kind of helping promote the service, through things like flyers or emails and such, as well as kind of helping us with access to the residence halls,” Chason said.
Chason described why he believes that universities choose to partner with Storage Scholars.
“Candidly, you know what, I think actions speak louder than words,” Chason said. “You can have a bunch of good salespeople, and you can offer really cheap pricing and just kind of get people in the door, but I think in this industry […] it’s a lot of fly-by-night companies, where they promise a lot of things and then they just don’t deliver. I’m not going to say we haven’t had our growing pains, and we definitely have — but I think for us, it really just comes down to quality service. That’s just something that we’ve done at a very high level for many years.”
Ronquillo explained why UC Davis secured a partnership with Storage Scholars.
“Student Housing and Dining Services wanted to provide a solution for move-out and storage assistance for UC Davis students that was safe, secure and offered comprehensive benefits,” Ronquillo said.
Ronquillo also said that UC Davis gets a percentage of the revenue that Storage Scholars generates from UC Davis students.
For students, Storage Scholars will send boxes to students to put their belongings in, before picking up and storing them in climate-controlled environments until they are brought to a resident’s new home, whether it be on or off campus. Ronquillo added that to SHDS, Storage Scholars seemed to be an ideal partner.
“We were happy to discover that Storage Scholars is available to both on-campus and off-campus students; supplies students with all necessary packing materials; provides secure, local storage; and has the option to ship boxes anywhere in the country,” Ronquillo said. “The agreement conforms to university policy and was handled through our contracting office.”
Aside from Storage Scholars, there are other moving companies that can assist in moving out of student accommodation housing.
Jibril Rouag, a fourth-year materials science and engineering major, mentioned a potential need to utilize a moving company when he leaves Davis. Despite having seen advertising for Storage Scholars, he had some reservations.
“I think I definitely will [use a moving service],” Rouag said. “Right now, my main concern would be price. It’s just whoever’s most competitive.”
For those interested in using Storage Scholars, information can be found on their company’s website.
Written by: Noah Harris — features@theaggie.org
