Dive Brief:

• A startup company called Compatibility is pitching roommate-matching services for colleges and universities.
• Compatibility software licenses cost $2,500 to $20,000 per year, depending on the size of the school, which breaks down to $5 to $7 per student, the Chicago Tribune reports.
• The company cites recent studies that show how bad roommate relationships can hurt students: The American College Health Association said roommate problems hampered academic performance for 5.6% of undergraduates surveyed, and UCLA said 10% of 16,500 students surveyed struggled to get along with roommates.

Dive Insight:

The Chicago-area founders of the company, Kim Rubenstein and Andrea Yusim Meltzer, developed an algorithm that calculates compatibility from 39 personality facets of students. While most universities take a stab at roommate matchmaking with typically six to 10 questions, the Compatibility founders say much more data and analysis is required. With the Compatibility service, students take a survey of about 100 questions.