The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2 - 61

Why Students Move Off Campus

place for a reason, but it is worth noting that
students for whom cooking and having consistent summer housing are a priority are much
more likely to seek off-campus housing.
Finally, the emphasis among students
staying on campus on the importance of staff
support and making friends suggests that the
efforts of residence life departments can make
a difference in retaining students in university
housing. It may not be necessary to construct
new buildings with single rooms and private
bathrooms if students feel they receive so
much value from living in community with
the support of staff that they can forgo more
private or less expensive housing options. It
is worth noting that at the university where
this study was conducted, there is consistently
high retention in campus housing despite the
relative lack of single rooms and private bathrooms; students report high satisfaction with
their sense of belonging in the hall community
and with their hall staff. Other institutions investigating retention rates in campus housing
should not ignore the importance of assessing
student satisfaction with these less tangible
aspects of the campus housing experience.

CONCLUSION
Discussions about students' choice to live off
campus often focus on how that choice affects
their institutional retention and their academic
success or other aspects of their success, but
there has been little research on the multifaceted reasons that students choose to live off
campus in the first place. This study indicates
that there are concrete factors that differentiate
students who choose off-campus housing from
those who choose to stay on campus, some of
which may be within an institution's control,
such as making housing available during
breaks or ensuring that hall staff add substantial value to the campus experience. Colleges
and universities seeking to improve the retention in their campus housing should consider
how they can mitigate some of the factors that
may be driving students to seek housing off
campus, allowing more students to benefit
from the positive effects of campus housing
and allowing institutions to utilize more fully
their available housing.

REFERENCES
Brooks, S. E. (2010). The connection between residence life and first-year student retention at the
University of Pittsburgh. The Journal of College
and University Student Housing, 37(1), 12-23.
Cleave, S. L. (1996). Residence retention: Reasons
students choose to return or not to return. College
Student Journal, 30(2), 187-199.
de Araujo, P., & Murray, J. (2010). Estimating the
effects of dormitory living on student performance. SSRN Electronic Journal. Retrieved from
https://papers.ssrn.com/

Gellin, A. (2003). The effect of undergraduate
student involvement on critical thinking: A meta-analysis of the literature 1991-2000. Journal
of College Student Development, 44(6), 746-762.
doi: 10.1353/csd.2003.0066
Harford, T. C., Wechsler, H., & Muthén, B. O. (2002).
The impact of current residence and high school
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students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63(3), 271-
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2

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