It's getting more expensive for ASU students to find housing, but they can at least take solace that their increasing rents aren't rising quite as much as they are for everyone else in the Valley.

Why it matters: Expensive student housing adds to the already-high cost of college.

The big picture: On average, student rents grew slower than market-rate rents in the Phoenix metro area over the past five years, according to Moody's data shared with Axios.

By the numbers: Average student rents grew by 29.2% from 2020 to 2025 in the Valley, while average market-rate rents grew 31.6%.

• The disparity was even greater for Arizona's other two major universities — market-rate rent in the Tucson area, home to UofA, jumped by 38% compared to 28.6% for student housing, while Flagstaff rents went up 32.8% compared to 27.% for NAU students.

Zoom out: Nationally, rent growth for market-rate apartments has been outpacing that of student housing, says Ricardo Rosas, Moody's associate data scientist.

• However, over the past five years, roughly 24% of 140 colleges and universities analyzed saw student rents grow faster than market-rate rents.

Between the lines: When rents rise in a metro area, student housing tends to follow suit, research suggests.

• Strong demand to live near campus instead of elsewhere in the metro can also keep student rents high.
• So can luxury apartments (think: saunas, yoga studios and infinity pools), which have moved into many student housing markets.

The bottom line: "While multifamily rents continue to command higher rates, the rapid growth in student housing rents is creating a mounting affordability crisis for students," according to a recent Moody's analysis.

• The financial strain could limit access to higher education, especially for lower-income students.

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Charlie Kirk's casket was flown to Phoenix yesterday on Air Force Two, accompanied by Vice President Vance. Kirk's funeral will be held here. (AZcentral)

Gov. Katie Hobbs issued an executive order directing the Arizona Department of Health Services and Board of Pharmacy to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines. (KJZZ)

The Arizona Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit challenging Prop. 211, the 2022 ballot measure that requires reporting of anonymous campaign spending often known as "dark money." (Arizona Mirror)

The NCAA is investigating 13 former basketball players from six schools, including four from ASU, in a sports betting probe. (The Athletic)

Former state Sen. Justine Wadsack is dropping her lawsuit against Tucson city officials and the Tucson Police Department, citing a family crisis. Wadsack faced potential sanctions after missing a court hearing tied to the lawsuit. (Tucson Sentinel)

People who gathered yesterday at Phoenix's Hall of Flame for a remembrance ceremony for the firefighters who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack got a look at a sculpture honoring the FDNY chaplain lionized as the "Saint of 9/11."

State of play: Retired New York firefighter Dennis Burke, who now lives in Sedona, created a sculpture to honor Mychal Judge, FDNY's chaplain, who was killed in the collapse of the South Tower.

• Burke wrote in a statement that after a night of prayer and contemplation following the 9/11 attacks, a vision came to him of Judge comforting firefighters.
• The artist worked on the piece, called "Brotherhood 9/11," over the course of 20 years, taking numerous breaks, after learning to sculpt from an artist in Sedona.

Driving the news: "Brotherhood 9/11" was on display at the Hall of Flame firefighting museum during a remembrance ceremony for the 343 firefighters who died in the attack on the World Trade Center.

• The ceremony took place in front of FDNY Rescue 4, the only one of the New York City Fire Department's five rescue trucks to survive the attacks.

Zoom in: Burke met Judge when the priest came to visit him in the hospital after he was injured in a four-alarm fire in the Bronx.

• "He was the most loving, giving person you could ever imagine," Burke told Axios.

What's next: "Brotherhood 9/11" is headed to St. Francis of Assisi, Judge's church in New York, where it'll be displayed between steel from the Twin Towers and the helmet that the chaplain wore on 9/11.

Remembering Mychal Judge