Talking Stick - November/December 2015 - 33

are related to key outcomes? Let's
take a look at national data from the
ACUHO-I/Benchworks Apartment
Assessment. During the 2014-15
academic year, nearly 16,000 students
from 46 institutions responded to the
assessment, which measures student
satisfaction and learning related to
their on-campus apartment experience.
Not surprisingly, the largest group
of students living in apartments was
graduate/professional students, who
made up 28 percent of this sample.
Of the undergraduate population, 23
percent were seniors and 25 percent
were juniors. Only 16 percent were
sophomores and just 4 percent were
freshmen.
Of the student respondents,
45 percent were classified as nontraditional students, based on survey
questions regarding age or their status
as dependents, international students,
or military students. Of these, 30
percent were international students, 12
percent had at least one dependent (18
years old or younger), 2 percent were
either veterans or currently serving
military students, and 23 percent were
over the age of 25. As for race and
ethnicity, while a little more than half
of respondents identified as white, 6
percent identified as African American,
23 percent as Asian, and 13 percent as
Hispanic or Latino.
As higher education institutions
strengthen their efforts in recruitment
and retention, they need to understand
what factors are important to
students when choosing to live in
campus apartments. The most widely
reported reasons included proximity
to campus (73 percent), cost (64
percent), and safety/security (60
percent). Fewer students were likely
to rate facility-related topics such as
apartment availability (49 percent),
quality of appliances (43 percent),
apartment layout (29 percent), and
building architecture (20 percent)
as contributing significantly to their
housing decisions. Furthermore, only

Programming Matters
Unplug it, and they will come. That may be the mantra of programming
staff trying to get students away from their T.V.s and video games and
encouraging them to participate in community gatherings and events.
"With students living in apartments, programming is the most critical tool
at our disposal for creating that sense of community, identity, and with
helping students establish connections with a larger group of students
and the university at large," says Christopher Ralphs, director of university
housing and residential education at Southern Utah University in Cedar
City. His staff put together a variety of programs from dances to trail
hikes. "We do an interest survey at the beginning of the year and match
many of our program offerings off of those interests. We typically start
off the year with our Tie-Dye dance (tie-dye, DJs, flavored sodas . . . it's a
hit), and we start our Harry Potter-themed House Cup competition with
a Tri-Wizard tourney (we have three apartment buildings) and wrap it up
with the Yule Ball."
Competition for students' attention is the same at the University
of Florida in Gainesville. "Programming for an off-campus, universityaffiliated property can be tricky - my approach is to make sure I'm
offering our residents opportunities that they can't get at non-affiliated
properties, as well as providing them with similar resources and
programming to that of on-campus residences," says Kaitlyn Hosticka,
community coordinator for The Continuum. The community takes
advantage of being close to downtown and they attend plays together,
or staff will organize an ice cream social at a local venue. In Florida's
on-campus undergraduate apartment community, Sean Johnson,
area coordinator for Tolbert/Keys, explains, "My programming style
revolves around making the residents feel valued. With being in a
college town with a saturated market for off-campus complexes, I try
to offer something they feel they may not be able to get off campus.
I really request of my staff not to just see the apartment building they
supervise as the whole building, but as 12 individual apartments which
are made up of 47-48 residents." They organize karaoke night socials and
workshops for students to learn about health, exercise, and life balance.
Additionally, Florida's campus still supports a traditional community of
graduate and family housing even though that type of accommodation
has steadily decreased over the last several years. "We are still highly
international and graduate students, but in the past seven years, I have
seen a shift in more single graduate students living with us than family
. . . more domestic students as well even though they are still a minority,"
says Thomas Germain. As for programming, recognizing residents as
scholars and providing them opportunities to present their research
has been very successful, and so has allowing the residents to organize
events. "Our staff is providing funding, staffing and supervise the process
. . . but the content is driven by the residents . . . this model has been so
powerful as the residents take more ownership, get involved, and feel
more recognized and valued in their living environment."
- Camille Perlman

NOVEMBER + DECEMBER 2015

Talking Stick - November/December 2015

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