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Student Life
The quality of student life has long been a dominant issue on college campuses across the nation.
In 1994, the University of Chicago initiated a campus-wide task force to evaluate the quality of student life and recommend ways to provide a well-rounded, engaging educational experience that included high-quality residence halls as well as social, recreational and non-curricular activities.
Three years later, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Cornell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) launched a research and advocacy program to reduce binge-drinking on college campuses.
More recently, a study conducted at Emory University and UNC attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of online depression-screening questionnaires, an increasingly popular tool colleges are utilizing to help troubled students battle depression and suicide. According to the National Mental Health Association and the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to reducing the rate of youth suicides and improving the mental health of college students, an estimated 1,088 suicides occur on college campuses every year.
Suicide and alcohol abuse are only two factors among many that contribute to the quality of student life on college campuses. Organizations such as public service clubs, cultural and ethnic groups, fraternities and sororities, are additional elements that define student life. Factors such as technology and entertainment affect the way student bodies operate. Crime levels and the quality of surrounding neighborhoods affect the sense of community on college campuses.
The combination of these factors has universities paying close attention to the quality of student life. This includes positive trends as well as more detrimental ones.
According to survey results from the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, a group of 31 elite private colleges that includes eight Ivy league schools, students at Harvard University view campus social life unfavorably. On a five-point scale, students gave the university a 2.62 rating for social life and 2.53 rating for sense of community. Specific complaints noted the lack of places available to socialize and hold parties. As a result, the school has been experimenting with ideas such as "pub nights,"Â speed dating and later curfews for on-campus parties.
Other research focuses on the role technology plays in student life, particularly TV, cell phones and instant messaging. Last year, Nielsen Media Research reported that college students watch an average of 3 hours and 41 minutes of television each day. At the same time, surveys such as "Your First College Year," conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles and the Policy Center on the First Year of College at Brevard College, show increasing rates of academic disengagement. According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education on student engagement in the classroom, these trends are not unrelated.
At the same time, however, the Washington Post reported in the last several months that college clubs and organizations are on the rise due to an ambitious student body in this day and age. Judith Kidd, associate dean of student life and activities for Harvard College at Harvard University, called college students today extremely driven. "They don't know what to do with downtime. They come to campus with day planners."
Statistics show that George Washington University had 200 registered student groups in the 2001-02 academic year and 380 groups the following year.
These examples not only emphasize the overwhelming number of factors that contribute to the quality of student life, but also the important role they play with respect to student satisfaction on college campuses.
Things to think about:
- What kinds of social organizations do colleges provide, and how many students take advantage of them?
- How do college students rate the quality of student life on their campus, and what are universities doing to address their feedback?
- Do more students prefer on-campus dormitories, or would they prefer to live in off-campus housing? What may be some reasons for this?
- What are campus policies regarding alcohol, parties and co-ed dormitories? Do dry-campus policies lead to more underage drinking?
- Are there noticeable differences between the quality of student life at small, private schools versus large, public schools? What may be the cause of these differences?
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Gender Equity in Higher Education: 2010
More men are enrolling in college and earning a bachelor's degree stabilizing a 30-year trend of young women outnumbering males on campus according to a report released by the American Council on Education. However, ACE finds the gender gap among female and male Hispanic students has not stabilized. American Council on Education, Jan. 26, 2010
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Faculty, Governing Boards, and Institutional Governance Report
Relations between faculty members and trustees are generally healthy, although each group could benefit from more education about the other's role in governance, according to a report issued by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. Jan. 25, 2010, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges
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Online Learning as a Strategic Asset
More than one-third of public university faculty have taught an online course while more than one-half have recommended an online course to students, according to a study of administrative and faculty views toward online learning released by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities-Sloan National Commission on Online Learning. August 31, 2009
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The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2013
Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. Authors Tom McBride and Ron Nief, August 18, 2009
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The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education pdf
The Harvard Graduate School of Education examines faculty experiences on college campuses today.
Harvard Graduate School of Education - COACHE, 9/17/2007
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Southern Regional Education Board's Fact Book on Higher Education
Billed as one of the nation's most comprehensive collections of comparative data on higher education, the Fact Book has data on long-term trends and developments in higher education in 16 southern states. State-by-state summaries and quick facts are also included.
Southern Regional Education Board, 7/1/2007
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Adult Learners in Higher Education: Barriers to Success and Strategies to Improve Results
This report synthesizes research on the challenges facing adult learners in higher education today and on emerging strategies for increasing the number of adults over 24 who earn college credentials and degrees. A key finding is that traditional higher education programs and policies created when the 18- to 22-year-old, dependent, full-time student was more common are not well designed for the needs of adult learners, most of whom are employees who study rather than students who work.
Jobs for the Future, 6/21/2007
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College Alcohol Study
Ongoing research from the Harvard School of Public Health on college students and alcohol abuse.
1/4/2006
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Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Suicide in College and University Settings pdf
This paper summarizes various approaches colleges and universities are taking to prevent suicide within the student body. It also recommends additional methods of prevention and ways of improving students' mental health.
Suicide Prevention Resource Center - Lloyd Potter, Morton Silverman, Ellen Connorton and Marc Posner, 10/21/2004
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The Shame of College Sports
With so many people paying for tickets and watching on television, college sports has become Very Big Business. When you combine so much money with such high, almost tribal, stakes—football boosters are famously rabid in their zeal to have their alma mater win—corruption is likely to follow. Taylor Branch, The Atlantic, Oct. 2011
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Record Level of Stress Found in College Freshmen
The emotional health of college freshmen — who feel buffeted by the recession and stressed by the pressures of high school — has declined to the lowest level since an annual survey of incoming students started collecting data 25 years ago. Tamar Lewin, New York Times, Jan. 26, 2011
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So, Students Don't Learn -- Now What?
In the company of higher education experts and policymakers, the authors of a damning new book about higher education asserting that many college students graduate without actually learning anything acknowledged Tuesday that the tool used to reach that conclusion isn't perfect. But they all agreed that it doesn't make the findings any less "sobering." Allie Grasgreen, Inside Higher Ed, Jan. 19, 2011
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Mental Health Needs Seen Growing at Colleges
National surveys show that nearly half of the university and college students who visit counseling centers are coping with serious mental illness, more than double the rate a decade ago. More students take psychiatric medication, and there are more emergencies requiring immediate action. Trip Gabriel, New York Times, Dec. 19, 2010
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Utah Has a Female College-Going Gender Gap
Utah women marry younger, have children sooner and have more of them than their peers in all other states. This demographic quirk is often cited as the reason women don’t attend college at the same rate as men, a growing cause of concern among higher-education leaders. Some fear if trends hold, Utah will lose its competitive edge. Brian Maffly, Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 11, 2010
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Colleges Aim to Revive the Humanities
At college campuses around the world, the humanities are hurting. Students are flocking to majors more closely linked to their career ambitions. Grant money and philanthropy are flowing to the sciences. And university presidents are worried about the future of subjects once at the heart of a liberal arts education. In response, the leaders of many prestigious universities are espousing the virtues of the humanities. Tracy Jan, Boston Globe, Nov. 8, 2010
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University Attendance Scanners Make Some Uneasy
When classes begin on Monday, some students at Northern Arizona University will have a little extra incentive to roll out of bed for that 8 a.m. calculus class.The school is installing electronic scanners outside some large lecture halls to track attendance. NAU may be the first American educational institution to try the technology. Daniel Kraker, National Public Radio, Sept. 1, 2010
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More options than buying books
University of Florida finance major Thomas Spoto, 21, joined the ranks of students declaring they're just not going to take it anymore, finding a way around the always-increasing cost of college textbooks. Renting college textbooks is now all the rage at campus bookstores and online, with students saving at least half off the new cover price. And they don't run the risk of a bookstore not buying back the book if a professor decides not to use it the following semester or the publisher issues a new edition. Kimberly C. Moore, The Gainesville Sun, August 31, 2010
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When an A isn't enough
Despite earning good grades and taking honors courses in high school, many students find themselves ill-prepared for college. Some blame grade inflation or unrealistic expectations at the next level. Charlie Boss, The Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 22, 2010
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College degrees taking longer
If you're counting on four years of college tuition, think again: It now takes the majority of students at least six years to earn a bachelor's degree.And the federal government this year began tracking the eight-year graduation rate — an acknowledgement that more students are taking longer than ever before to get their diploma. Patricia Alex, North Jersey Record, Aug. 3, 2010
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Whither the Wikis?
Of all the Web 2.0 tools that have become de rigueur on college campuses, wikis fundamentally embody the Internet’s original promise of pooling the world’s knowledge — a promise that resonates loudly in academe. And yet higher education’s relationship with wikis — Web sites that allow users to collectively create and edit content — has been somewhat hot-and-cold.Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed, July 14, 2010
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What happened to studying?
You won't hear this from the admissions office, but college students are cracking the books less and less. Keith O'Brien, The Boston Globe, July 6, 2010
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Elite colleges thawing on ROTC
Administrators at Harvard, Brown, and other elite universities are softening their resistance to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps more than four decades after the military scholarship programs were driven from campus in the face of fierce antiwar sentiment.Bryan Bender, The Boston Globe, April 26, 2010
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The Death of Liberal Arts
There's no denying that the fight between the cerebral B.A. vs. the practical B.S. is heating up. For now, practicality is the frontrunner, especially as the recession continues to hack into the budgets of both students and the schools they attend. Nancy Cook, Newsweek, April 5, 2010
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ESU professor suspended for comments made on Facebook page
An East Stroudsburg University sociology professor has been suspended for venting her workplace frustration on her Facebook page. Dan Berrett, Pocono Record, March 2, 2010
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Credit Cards and Campuses
A new era in the vexed relationships between colleges, credit cards and students begins Monday, when most of the new provisions of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 take effect. The law provides new protections to students and imposes new requirements on colleges and alumni groups that offer credit cards. Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Education, Feb. 19, 2010
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Educators Mull How to Motivate Professors to Improve Teaching
"Without an unrelenting focus on quality—on defining and measuring and ensuring the learning outcomes of students—any effort to increase college-completion rates would be a hollow effort indeed." So proclaimed Jamie P. Merisotis, president and chief executive of the Lumina Foundation for Education, during the opening plenary of the annual conference of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, held here last week. David Glenn, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 25, 2010
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Study: Students more stressed now than during Depression?
A new study has found that five times as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues as youth of the same age who were studied in the Great Depression era. The Associated Press via USA Today, Jan. 13, 2010
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Textbooks for Rent ... Everywhere
A college education may be a lifetime investment, but college textbooks may only see use for a semester or less. And with many students pinching pennies because of tuition and tightening family budgets, some don’t see buying textbooks as worth the cost, which is typically between $700 and $1,000 per year. Textbook rental programs have been sprouting up and growing for some time, but this week there are signs of a market shift with large, traditional bookstore companies going further than they have in the past in embracing the rental concept. Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Education, Jan. 12, 2010
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Mixed Outlook on Foreign Students
The data being released today through the annual "Open Doors" study by the Institute of International Education might in any other year be cause for celebration for American educators. Record numbers of international students enrolling in the United States. Record numbers of American students traveling abroad for part of their education. Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Education, Nov. 16, 2009
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Large universities changing freshman experience
The freshman experience at large state universities can still resemble a failed social experiment more than the start of a four-year journey to enlightenment. Overwhelmed freshmen in many places still sit anonymously in large lecture halls, surrounded by hundreds of peers whose names the professor couldn't possibly remember. Dorm life isn't much better, with total-stranger roommates sharing little other than a desire to survive those first rocky semesters. Alan Scher Zagier, The Associated Press, Oct. 5, 2009
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Colleges learn to live with social media
Each entering class more connected than last, but some schools worry about privacy and inappropriate contacts. Childs Walker, The Baltimore Sun, Sept. 30, 2009
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H1N1: No college is immune
For Melanie Cornell, the saga began with an unrelenting cough, a sore throat and an overall "feverish" feeling.
It did not occur to the University of Illinois sophomore that she had swine flu, but she went to the campus medical clinic, which was filled with sneezing, runny-nosed students. When she couldn't get in to see a doctor after 2 1/2 hours, she grabbed one of the surgical masks being offered, but took it off before going to class. Dahleen Glanton, The Chicago Tribune, Sept. 25, 2009
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Libraries of the Future
The university library of the future will be sparsely staffed, highly decentralized, and have a physical plant consisting of little more than special collections and study areas. Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Education, Sept. 24, 2009
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Students and H1N1 mingle on campus
College students said they're reminded nearly daily about flu prevention by e-mail updates, posters and ubiquitous hand sanitizer dispensers around campus. Yet, despite the pervasive prevention messages, many students said they're not too worried. Those who have been sick said it was no different than the seasonal flu. Madison Park, CNN, Sept. 22, 2009
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Will the Web kill colleges?
Students starting school this year may be part of the last generation for which "going to college" means packing up, getting a dorm room and listening to tenured professors. Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering. Colleges, like newspapers, will be torn apart by new ways of sharing information enabled by the Internet. The business model that sustained private U.S. colleges can't survive. Zephyr Teachout, The Big Money, Sept. 15, 2009
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Top 5 Ways College Kids Will Get Swine Flu
Forget about good grades and securing a date for homecoming, college students heading back to campus have a far bigger concern: swine flu.Classrooms and dorm rooms are common places for incubation and transmission. With the school year just starting, swine is already spreading across college campuses nationwide. Emily Friedman, ABC News, Sept. 1, 2009
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Colleges Seek to Remake the Campus Tour
For as long as high school seniors have been visiting colleges, it seems, there have been tour guides walking backward in front of them, breathlessly reciting statistics from a script while, hopefully, avoiding tree roots and other hazards. The remaking of the campus tour is the latest development in the pitched competition among colleges to woo the most talented applicants. Jacques Steinberg, The New York Times, August 19, 2009
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The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2013
Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. Authors Tom McBride and Ron Nief, August 18, 2009
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Google and Microsoft: The Battle Over College E-Mail
College students used to complain about dining-hall mystery meat. Their new gripe? Puny e-mail inboxes. Students have been howling that school e-mail accounts are too small to handle their daily deluge of mail and attachments. To address that problem, a growing number of colleges and universities are outsourcing their e-mail. The companies swooping in to manage student accounts for free? Google and Microsoft. Like search, software and operating systems, campuses are a burgeoning battleground for the tech titans. Jeremy Caplan, Time Magazine, August 17, 2009
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College students will 'feel the crunch'
When California college students return to campus this fall, they'll find crowded classrooms, less access to faculty and counselors, fewer campus services and more difficulty getting classes they need to graduate — all while paying higher fees. The state's financial crisis is battering its world-renowned system of higher education, reducing college opportunities for residents and threatening California's economic recovery. Terence Chea, The Associated Press and Merrill Balassone of the Modesto Bee.
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Ready, or Not?
As institutions like Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and Louisiana Technical College, one by one, had multiple people killed in campus shootings, the general consensus was that such incidents could happen anywhere. "It's very important to be aware that a college community is like any other -- it isn't a protected oasis," one campus security expert said after the Northern Illinois shooting. A study published in the latest issue of Radiologic Technology suggests, though, that the emergency preparedness plans at a significant proportion of colleges and universities lack some of the key elements seen as necessary to prepare, prevent, respond and recover from "mass casualty events." Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Education, August 5, 2009
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Campus Contagion?
Colleges are bracing for the spread of swine flu this fall. How they plan to cope. Johannah Cornblatt, Newsweek Magazine, August 4, 2009
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College student who was homeless isn’t alone, but he has a brighter future
As daylight faded, Ed Charles would begin packing up his books in the Penn Valley community college library and worrying about a test most classmates need not worry about. It was a part of his daily ritual last summer: Spend the mornings struggling to stay alert in class, the afternoons fighting sleep on the job, and early evenings studying until the library closed at 9 p.m. Then roam the streets trying to figure out a place to sleep. Every college has its own Ed Charles. The number of homeless students out there is unknown, but this year, for the first time, the application for federal financial aid for college includes three questions that will help identify them. Mara Rose Williams, The Kansas City Star, July 31, 2009
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A Privacy Law That Protects Students, and Colleges, Too
A law designed to keep college students' grades private often is used for a much different purpose -- to shield universities from potentially embarrassing situations. Some critics say a number of schools are deliberately misreading the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act in order to keep scandals and other unflattering news from hitting the media. Chris Herring, The Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2009
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A Lifeline For College Students With Depression
The emotional and intellectual challenges of college can knock students off balance. One group is especially at risk: students with mental illnesses. The illnesses are isolating, and the students may be far from the support of their family. Students with depression, bipolar disease or schizophrenia have to find their own way through. That's what 22-year-old college senior Juliana Kerrest has done, with the help of a group called Active Minds, which was started by Alison Malmon to raise mental health awareness on college campuses. Malmon was a presenter at EWA's 2008 national seminar in Chicago.
National Public Radio - Joanne Silberner, 9/25/2008
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An Autistic Student's Journey To College
by Michelle Trudeau
Sending your child off to college can be an anxious time for many parents. But for parents of children with a mental illness or learning disability, the transition is especially challenging. One worry is that parents of adult children have no legal standing in their medical care. In Nashville, Tenn., the Diehl family has worked hard to prepare their son, Roger, who has Asperger's Syndrome, for the move from home to college.
National Public Radio, 9/11/2008
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Lower Drinking Age Is Criticized
On the face of it, the notion seems counterintuitive, but to the presidents of some of the nation's most prestigious colleges, it makes a lot of sense: Lowering the legal drinking age might get students to drink less. But any chance for the academic leaders to begin a public discussion of their theory -- that allowing people as young as 18 to drink legally might promote moderation -- has been lost in a wave of criticism from health experts, transportation officials, government leaders and opponents of drunken driving.
The WAshinington Post - Susan Kinzie and James Hohmann, 8/21/2008
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Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod.
Taking a step that professors may view as a bit counterproductive, some universities are doling out Apple iPhones and Internet-capable iPods to students. The always-on Internet devices raise some novel possibilities, like tracking where students congregate. With far less controversy, colleges could send messages about canceled classes, delayed buses, campus crises or just the cafeteria menu. Basking in the aura of a cutting-edge product could just help a university foster a cutting-edge reputation.
The New York Times - Jonathan D. Glater, 8/20/2008
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Struggling College Students Turn to Food Banks
by Associated Press
Just blocks from the University of Washington, a line of people shuffle toward a food pantry, awaiting handouts such as milk and bread. For years, the small University District pantry has offered help to the working poor and single parents in this neighborhood of campus rentals. Now rising food prices are bringing another group: Struggling college students.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 7/31/2008
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Cheating on ACT, SAT college entrance exams has few consequences
A group of students at a Los Angeles high school is suspected of cheating on the ACT college entrance exam by paying a former student, who used fraudulent identification, to take the tests. The testing agency recently began investigating the claims, which could result in cancellation of scores provided to colleges. But those colleges will not be told why the scores are invalid, nor will the students' high school be clued in. In all likelihood, the students will simply retake the test with few consequences.
The Los Angeles Times - Carla Rivera, 7/14/2008
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Undocumented students have a degree of anxiety
He took 15 AP classes in high school, and kicks himself for passing up two others. Now, he is graduating from UCLA, with a double major in English and Chicano Studies and a B-plus grade point average. But for all his success, Miguel does not share the full-bodied exuberance of the graduating seniors who marched last month five abreast into Pauley Pavilion. A native of Puebla, Mexico, he is an illegal immigrant.
The Los Angeles Times - Gale Holland, 7/8/2008
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Legacy of UT's oil wealth: a denuded landscape
by Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
Investors appealed to the patron saint of impossible causes when oil drilling began on University of Texas System land in 1921. Since then, the UT System's 2.1 million acres in West Texas have produced $4.4 billion in royalty payments and other mineral income for the Permanent University Fund, an endowment that supports the UT and Texas A&M University systems. But this long-running bonanza for higher education exacted a price from the remote, semiarid landscape where it all began.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN , 7/7/2008
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The '60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retiree
Baby boomers, hired in large numbers during a huge expansion in higher education that continued into the '70s, are being replaced by younger professors who are different from their predecessors - less ideologically polarized and more politically moderate.
The New York Times - Patricia Cohen, 7/3/2008
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An L.A. 'posse' passes its Iowa test
by Duke Helfand
Eight disadvantaged students from the Los Angeles, Calif., area overcome cultural and academic challenges to graduate from Grinnell College in Iowa. Read the students' journey in this piece.
The Los Angeles Times, 6/4/2008
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U.S. Schools Tap Growing Ranks of Chinese Students
by Larry Abramson
As more and more Chinese go to college, U.S. universities are trying to grab a piece of this growing market. Exchange students were once motivated by a desire to spread international understanding, but now many feel that global education is important to their success in the job market.
National Public Radio, 5/29/2008
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Women Want to Wrestle; Small Colleges Oblige
Women's wrestling teams are sprouting in the most unlikely places. Missouri Baptist University, a small Christian liberal arts institution, is starting a team this fall. The growth of such an unconventional women's sport at these small, private institutions has little to do with the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX and everything to do with their bottom line.
The New York Times - Katie Thomas, 5/27/2008
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Students Fail - and Professor Loses Job
Who is to blame when students fail? If many students fail - a majority even - does that demonstrate faculty incompetence, or could it point to a problem with standards? These are the questions at the center of a dispute that cost Steven D. Aird his job teaching biology at Norfolk State University in Va.
Inside Higher Ed - Scott Jaschik, 5/14/2008
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The Uneven Playing Field
Title IX, the federal law enacted in 1972 mandating equal opportunity in sports, has helped to shape a couple of generations of girls who believe they are as capable and as tough as any boy. But can girls live with the greater rate of injuries as boys?
New York Times - Michael Sokolove, 5/8/2008
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College grads face tougher job market
Unlike most of the underclassmen who've come to Science Career Night at Boston College dressed in jeans, Timothy Harrington arrived better dressed than some of the recruiters. Harrington is one of 1.5 million college grads expected to have a harder time landing a job this year as the United States slides deeper into recession. If current trends persist, some workplace experts say, college graduates will continue to face an increasingly shrinking job market.
The Christian Science Monitor - Tom A. Peter , 5/7/2008
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