The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 46, No. 1 - 13

Peer Belonging and Institutional Acceptance

higher rates of retention and student success
(Berger & Milem, 1999; Hausmann, Schofield, & Woods, 2007; Hurtado & Carter, 1997;
Hurtado, Gonyea, Graham, & Fosnacht, 2019;
Kuh, 2005; Maestas, Vaquera, & Zehr, 2007;
Ostrove & Long, 2007; Strayhorn, 2008).
Campus housing can offer increased opportunities for students to interact with peers
and faculty (Hurtado et al., 2019; Kuh, 1993;
Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005), and those interactions can be further impacted by the way
that the housing is designed (Brandon, Hirt, &
Cameron, 2008). As living situations can then
influence relationships, they may also impact
students' sense of belonging on campus.
Yet evidence for the positive impacts of
campus housing on student success is mixed.
For instance, some studies indicated that students living on campus show larger gains in
critical thinking as compared to commuters
(Gellin, 2003; Pascarella et al., 1993; Pike &
Kuh, 2005; Reason, Terenzini, & Domingo,
2006). Other studies suggested that housing
assignments in which students are paired with
other students who have similar ability levels
or similar majors gave these students an advantage in academic achievement (Blimling,

In addition to living situation, which
was the focus of our study, student
demographics, college experiences,
and institutional characteristics
played an important role in
students' level of peer belonging
and institutional acceptance.

1993; Terenzini, Pascarella, & Blimling, 1996).
However, while many administrators at higher
education institutions assume that students
living in campus housing have an advantage in
grade performance over students who commute
to campus, Terenzini and colleagues (1996)
found, after controlling for previous academic
achievement, that this effect seemed to disappear. Another study found a negative relationship between living on campus and cognitive
development in highly prepared first-year students (Loes, Pascarella, & Umbach, 2012). Furthermore, perceptions of crowding and personal
space in residence halls, especially high-density
buildings at large institutions, also play a negative role in social and cognitive outcomes (Kaya,
2004). While not all completely in agreement
on the impacts, these findings warrant further
exploration of the impact of students' living
situation on their success. Another consideration that merits further investigation in this
area is the rise of technology, including distance
education, course management systems, and
social media. Today's students experience peer
and institutional interactions quite differently
than students did even a decade ago (Dumford,
& Miller, 2018; Heflin, Shewmaker, & Nguyen,
2017; Rashid & Asghar, 2016).

THE CURRENT STUDY
Given the mixed findings on campus housing
as a factor in student success, continuing to
examine the effects of students' living environments in the overall context of the college experience is critical. As the results from previous
studies suggest, considering different student
and institutional characteristics when trying to
determine the impact of living situations on
students' sense of belonging is also important.
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 46, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 46, No. 1
