University is a place for students not only to learn, but to also branch out, experience new things, and challenge themselves in ways that a full-time job doesn’t allow. University students travel from far and wide to attend institutions to further their learning, and for some this means moving out of home and living on or close to campus.

In BCM212 we are focusing specifically on the university student experience, gathering information and opinion from a range of sources. We have been tasked to think of a ‘curiosity’ we have regarding the student experience, and research into it.

My curiosity is about campus living,

Specifically, is it worth the financial investment, what the advantages and disadvantages are, and how it impacts study and social life.

I think this is also quite relevant with the current situation university’s around the world face, with the huge reliance of online teaching, begging the question, is traveling or living on campus is even worth it when everything can be achieved online?  As Lodge (2014) explains “Technology has now reached a point where it is conceivable that an education experience on the internet can be comparable to one on a university campus.”

The topic of campus living is of interest to me as I had previously considered living on or close to campus at the beginning of my first year. Living almost an hour away from campus I was weighing up my options, to either stay down in Wollongong during the university week, or to drive back and forth daily and remain living at home.

I chose the latter for a couple of reasons, one was that I was able to condense the days I was required to be on campus due to lectures being recorded and the easy access to material online, meaning I would only need to commute on two days of the week.

The other was the large financial investment that comes along with living on or close to campus, when things such as rent, food, and amenities are considered. This was not a financial situation I was prepared to put myself in at the time.

I posed this financial question to my peers on the BCM212 twitter hashtag, I had limited responses and I put this down to my question potentially being a bit too specific.

However, as you can see the majority agree that the financial commitment is at least worth it in some form or aspect. This research can be taken further with both more open poll questions, as well as written interviews with my BCM212 peers where relevant. I will be able to conduct these through Twitter, Facebook, Google tools, and chats with my lecture class.

This research may also lead me to how different university/college campuses operate around the world, and whether some countries make it more worth while or affordable for students to stay on or close to campus, and what the different pros and cons for students living on campus are.

I have always been curious as to what exactly it is like to move away from home for university, what advantages and disadvantages come with it, how does it affect study and results, does it improve social life, what life skills are learnt during this time, and are students taking full advantage of this time? As Ian F. Wilkinson (2011) from the University of Sydney explains, “Sitting together in a class and working on a group assignment is one thing. Living, drinking, dating and playing sport together is another.”

These are the questions I intend to find out, through both scholarly researches, as well as information gathered from peers and own experiences in regard to university campus living.

Sources:

Polly A. Graham, Sarah Socorro Hurtado & Robert M. Gonyea (2018) The Benefits of Living on Campus: Do Residence Halls Provide Distinctive Environments of Engagement?, Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 55:3, 255-269, DOI: 10.1080/19496591.2018.1474752

Lodge M, J, 2014, ‘The campus is dead: long live the campus?’, The Conversation, Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-campus-is-dead-long-live-the-campus-21372

Wilkinson F, I, 2011, ‘There’s more to university than the qualification at the end’, The Conversation, Available at: https://theconversation.com/theres-more-to-university-than-the-qualification-at-the-end-614

McCuskey, B, 2015, ‘Why there is value in on-campus living’, The Conversation, Available at: https://theconversation.com/why-there-is-value-in-on-campus-living-45691

Graham, P. A.; Hurtado, S. S.; Gonyea, R. M. (2016), Living on campus: Does it still make a difference?, American College Personnel Association Annual Convention, https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/24122/Living%20on%20campus-%20Does%20it%20still%20make%20a%20difference.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y