Research Blog #2

Currently I am trying to get a little more specific with my topic. I want to see the academic and social success of students who commuted vs. living on campus once they graduated from school. By doing this I can make my thoughts much more clear.

Doing some research has net me a lot of results that relate to the academic success of students who commute vs. dorm. Many web pages, PDF articles, and scholarly books conduct research on this very study. Th Some of these key terms include, integration, time management, and social networking. From what I have read these key terms exist in different realms for those that commute and those that live on campus. The articles all discuss how students who live on-campus have a higher chance for success than students who commute to school.

Some resources I found were, "Living on Campus: Does it still Make a Difference?" by Polly A. Graham, Sarah Hurtado, and Robert Gonyea research on first-year students from a University in Indiana. They came to the conclusion that students who live off-campus have a harder time getting access to the same convenient social and academic resources that students who live on campus do. The article, "The Disenganged Commuter Student: Fact or Fiction?" by George Kuh, Robert Gonyea, and Megan Palmer discuss how college residential programs, put a great deal of effort in making students that dorm much more prepared for student-life. These include networking, opportunities for tutoring, and joining social groups.

A counter-point to this argument is in the one particular article I discovered was, "College Living Environments and Stress: Commuters Versus On-Campus Residency" by Alicia Horvath. Horvath conducted a study on 30 students from the Introduction Psychology courses of a regional state university in the Midwest. The study found that students who lived off-campus had slightly lower stress levels, due to living in a familiar atmosphere.

1. Living on Campus: Does it Still Make a Difference?
By. Polly A. Graham, Sarah S. Hurtado, & Robert M. Gonyea


2. The Disengaged Commuter Student: Fact or Fiction?
By George D. Kuh, Robert M. Gonyea, Megan Palmer 

3. College Living Environments and Stress: Commuters Versus On-Campus Residency
By Alicia Horvath

Comments

  1. Michael GoellerOctober 3, 2017 at 5:39 AM

    The counter-point article did not have a very large sample size as the basis of its research. What's more, I think its argument about "stress" might be a little flawed, as there is research (discussed in the popular book The Upside of Stress) that suggests a certain level of stress is good and helps students learn and grow. Living at home with parents who support you might lead to complacency which can feed the disengagement from school or allow students to accept lower grades and lower success knowing that their parents will always support them.

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