Blog #4 Research Proposal

Ashley Shanley

Research Proposal

Working Title: Academic Achievement Between Traditional Students Versus Commuter Students

Topic:

               I am going to explore the topic of students living on campus versus students who commute to school every day.  This paper will talk about the positive and negative effects of both living on campus and commuting and how they affect a students’ academic achievement.

Research Question:

               Does the living situation of college students affect their academic achievement throughout the 4 years of college? Once I have discussed and answered the question, my next question will ask if there is there a way for colleges to include commuter students more in the social environment of the everyday college life.

Theoretical Frame or Approach:

        In Vincent Tinto’s, Building Community, he raises the question if commuting is reflected on a student’s academic achievement.  He uses a sample of first-year college students and compares their experiences of college life.  Being a commuter student is a hard task, especially when wanting to be involved in student life.  Tinto states that for the commuter student, attending college is “but one of a number of tasks to be completed during the course of a day.” Because the student does not live on campus, they may have a job, home responsibilities, all on top of schoolwork they must do to be successful. My question is whether or not commuting does actually affect the academic achievement of college students. I am curious to find out if gender plays a role in the life of a commuter student and success.  Males and females have different roles at home and at school, which may become an interference with their school work.

Research Plan, Case, or Additional Questions

        Vincent Tinto’s article talks about first year college students and how they are involved in the every day lifestyle of a college student.  He speaks about how commuting is only one of the many tasks a college student must do in a day.  The article, "Predictors of the Adjustment of First-Year Students to College: The Role of Early Involvement and Type of Residence,” by Mickey Fenzel, has students complete a survey that indicated the number of extra curricular activities they participated in.  These students were first-year students and were examined about their college lifestyle.  Students were also asked if they lived on campus or commuted from their parents homes, and which was easier for them to become more actively involved in the school’s extra-curricular activities. There were both commuter students and on campus residential students involved in this study.  This article shows that commuter students who lived at home are less able to become involved in drinking and drug use, allowing them to focus more on their academic studies.  However, they have trouble fitting in and getting involved in their social activities at their school.

        Armstrong and Hamilton discuss the downsides of living on campus in their article, “Paying for the Party.”  Although commuting may be a difficult task for students to manage, it is also difficult for students to achieve their academic goals when their on campus housing is full of unnecessary distractions.

Bibliography:

·         Armstrong, Elizabeth and Laura Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.

·   Chickering, Arthur W. Commuting Versus Resident Students:. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1974. Print.

·         Fenzel, Mickey L. “Predictors of the Adjustment of First-Year Students to College: The Role of Early Involvement and Type Residence”. (2001). N. pag. Web.

·         Tinto, Vincent, and Anne Goodsell-Love. "Building Community." Liberal Education 79.4 (1993): 16. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Literary Review #2

Ashley Shanley

Literary Review 2

Visual:

Citation:

·       Tinto, Vincent, and Anne Goodsell-Love. "Building Community." Liberal Education 79.4 (1993): 16. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Summary:

·       In Vincent Tinto’s, Building Community, he raises the question if commuting is reflected on a student’s academic achievement.  He uses a sample of first-year college students and compares their experiences of college life.  Being a commuter student is a hard task, especially when wanting to be involved in student life.  Tinto states that for the commuter student, attending college is “but one of a number of tasks to be completed during the course of a day.” Because the student does not live on campus, they may have a job, home responsibilities, all on top of schoolwork they must do to be successful. My question is whether or not commuting does actually affect the academic achievement of college students. I am curious to find out if sex plays a role in the life of a commuter student and success.  Males and females have different roles at home and at school, which may become an interference with their school work.

Author:

·      Vincent Tinto, Anne Goodsell-Love

Key Terms:

·      Higher education, Commuting, First-Year College Students

Quotes:

·      “Groups that formed within the classroom often extended beyond the classroom in the form of informal meetings and study groups.”

·      “For the commuter student, attending college is but one of a number of tasks to be completed during the course of a day. Yet even within that reality collaborative learning works.”

Value:

·      This article shows how higher education is important to college students. First-year students are actively involved in campus activities in and out of the classroom.  Being a commuter may hinder that experience, however it is possible to achieve.

Literary Review 1

Literary Review 1

Citation:  Fenzel, Mickey L. "Predictors of the Adjustment of First-Year Students to College: The Role of Early Involvement and Type of Residence." (2001): n. pag. Web.

Summary: In this article, a sample of students were asked to complete a survey that indicated the number of extra-curricular activities they participated in.  These students were first-year students and were examined about their college lifestyle.  Students were also asked if they lived on campus or commuted from their parents homes, and which was easier for them to become more actively involved in the schools extra-curricular activities.  This article shows that commuter students who lived at home are less able to become involved in drinking and drug use.  They also have trouble getting involved with social activities in school.

Author: Fenzel, L. Mickey

Key Terms: College Freshman, College Housing, Commuting Students, Dormitories

Quotes: “Results at least suggest that becoming involved early in college pays dividends with respect to better attendance at classes, less binge drinking and illicit drug use, expressing a greater commitment to social justice, and placing a higher level of important on performing community service. Results also show that commuter students who lived at home appeared to benefit by being less involved in binge drinking and experienced fewer problems related to alcohol use, but they were also less involved in the social and co-curricular life of the college.”

“Students located in Traditional II housing were the most active in co-curricular

activities with post hoc results showing significantly greater involvement than commuters.”

“Colleges and universities may need to make special efforts to involve commuters in the academic, co-curricular, and social experiences of the institution.”

Value:  This article is related to the value of commuter versus traditional dorming students.  It shows that there are both ways of life during college, however one may be more favored than the other. 

Blog 3

Privatization has been a common topic discussed throughout this class. It is known as the process of transferring the public industry to the private industry; once run by the government and being taken into the hands of a specific individual. 

My topic discussing if dorming or commuting during college affects the academic or social life of a young adult ties into the idea of privatization.  As mentioned in the video, The Red, post-college creates an enormous amount of loans to pay back.  By living in a dorm, tuition is extremely expensive.  Although commuting can have a negative impact on the social life of a college student, it saves money, which will be beneficial in the long run.  Privatization and student loans may create stressful situations for students, forcing them to want to commute.

Works Cited

·         $ALT.  The Red.  Online video.  YouTube.  2 May 2013.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei52AsqyoYk

Scouting the Territory

Traditional Student on Campus vs. Commuting Students

Although I was going to do my paper on Greek life, I could not find as much information on it so I decided to go another direction.  I chose about commuting and dorming/living off campus with roommates.  I have experienced both views and I feel like there are different ways that people can approach these types of schooling. 

              Many people view college as one big party.  I viewed my first year of college as a party, until my grades started to slip.  I have always been very determined and my academics meant a lot to me.  That’s when I started commuting.  I found different conclusions to each of these ways of attending college.  By commuting, I found that I could drive to and from class but had less responsibilities since I was able to live at home.  Although partying is still an option, it’s less of a risk. 

            There are pros and cons of dorming and commuting.  If you commute, you limit your interaction with your peers surrounding you. On the other hand, you would not have to have roommate battles that many people have when they room together. 

            Many topics have interested me on this paper, but this is one that I would definitely like to look into because I have experienced both sides.  Looking into this, both sides make sense to have a college experience, however one may be better for some people compared to the other.