Campus Housing and Student Success
CSUN STUDENT HOUSING
Residential Life at CSUN includes housing for students on campus, where residential students have access to academic and other types of support. One type of support are learning communities, specifically Living Learning Communities (LLCs) and Themed Learning Communities (TLCs). These learning communities provide academic and social support, with LLCs themed around academic programs and TLCs themed around common interests and/or experiences. Here we report on the findings of a collaboration between CSUN Student Housing and Institutional Research (IR) to examine the impact of living in student housing on student success.
DATA
IR data for this report included first-time freshmen (FTF) who entered CSUN in fall semesters from 2005 to 2018. Among the 65,386 FTF in this dataset, 15,993 lived in student housing.
We investigated the association between living in student housing and the following student success outcomes:
- first-year GPA
- third-term continuation rate
- probation rate
Since students who choose to live on campus may be inherently different from those who do not, we used propensity score matching to match housing students (target group) with non-housing students (comparison group) on the following characteristics:
- gender
- ethnicity
- Pell status
- first generation college student status (parent education)
- high school GPA
- home residence in local or outside of local area
- entry cohort
FINDINGS
Results showed that students living in campus housing tend to have higher first-year GPAs, higher third-term continuation rates, and lower probation rates as compared to the matched group of students who do not live in student housing.
OUTCOMES OF HOUSING AND NON-HOUSING STUDENTS
*Difference is statistically significant (p-values under .10) compared to non-housing outcomes.
The analyses also indicate that students living in TLCs or LLCs tend to have higher first-year GPAs and lower probation rates than non-learning community residential students. Third-term continuation rates are statistically similar between the two groups.
OUTCOMES OF TLC/LLC AND REGULAR HOUSING STUDENTS
*Difference is statistically significant (p-values under .10) compared to regular housing outcomes
In further examining the unique associations between the different student housing options and not living in student housing, we found that students in all of the housing options (TLC, LLC, or non-learning community) showed higher first-year GPAs than those not living in student housing. Further, students in LLCs and non-learning communities had higher third-term continuation rates and lower probation rates as compared to students not living in campus housing.
OUTCOMES ACROSS HOUSING STATUS
*Difference is statistically significant (p-values under .10) compared to non-housing outcomes. No statistically significant differences between TLC/LLC and regular housing outcomes. Results reflect estimated means (first year GPA) and predicted probabilities (third term, probation).
CONCLUSIONS
Living in student housing, especially living in LLCs, is associated with positive student outcomes, including higher first-year GPAs, higher probability of returning for the third semester, and lower probability of going on academic probation. It is important to note that this is the case even after matching students on characteristics that may be associated with choosing to live in on-campus housing.
These findings are important to note and are supported by existing research literature. They also warrant further investigation into the mechanisms by which on-campus residential status might contribute to student success.