Does Personalization In Residence Halls Contribute To Resident Retention

Author : Joan Romara Steele
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (885 download)

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Download or read book Housing and Residential Life written by Joan Romara Steele and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are multiple different housing options that colleges and universities use to house, develop, and retain their student populations. This thesis explores dormitories, Greek Housing, living-learning communities, and residential-learning communities but most importantly, closely examines theme communities & residential halls and the effects on student retention. Historically traditional dorms or dormitories were the go to option to house students as well as faculty members. This thesis will closely examine the themed communities and residential halls in order to determine if there is a connection between these housing techniques and college and university students' retention rates. Throughout, the definitions of student development theory and retention are used to develop the study and to detect any connection between retention and housing. The purpose of this thesis was to learn if there is a connection between students' retention rates, theme communities, and residential halls. The reviewed literature identified that students who residence in theme communities and residential halls helps students familiarize themselves with the campus and bond with faculty, staff, and peers. The results from the survey questionnaires showed that the students extremely appreciate the theme communities and believe it plays a positive role in their grades. The results also indicated that residential halls assist in students' decisions to re-enroll at Sacramento State University. The study is both qualitative and quantitative in nature. A survey questionnaire was created using mostly Likert scale questions in addition to other types of questions that provided qualitative data from the student sample population. The residential advisors collected the data manually within the themed communities through the survey questionnaires. After the completed survey questionnaires were gathered, the researcher inputted the responses into Survey Monkey to analyze the data. The analyzed data was then used to create tables to display the results. The combined findings from the literature review and the survey questionnaire data supports the conclusions of a positive and influential connection between students housing assignments and their retention rates. It is evident from the literature review and the survey results, habitual and supportive interactions with faculty, staff, and peer residents help themed and learning-community residents connect to their colleges and universities. As a result, the researcher suggests five major recommendations. The first is all housing and residential life administration should transition out of using dorms or traditional dormitories as a student housing resource; the second major recommendation is all housing and residential life administration and affiliated researchers utilize uniform housing terms and labels; the third major recommendation is that residence halls should use a faculty member to staff the halls; the fourth recommendation suggests that all learning communities have affiliated residential support staff, as well as affiliated faculty members offices and apartments inside of the communities. These recommendations will only enhance the student's residential life on campus and continue to increase retention by building stronger bonds with faculty, staff and peers.