Increasing Residence Life Enrollment at the University of Memphis

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How the University of Memphis can Increase the Residential Life Enrollment and Retention
among College Students

Samantha Danico
The Department of Leadership
University of Memphis
April 18, 2015

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Abstract
The University of Memphis has struggled to keep students living on campus. With only
10% of the student body living in the residence halls, how can the administrators of the
university make living on campus more attractive to current students as well as incoming
students in the future? Based on previous research recommendations for improvement can be
narrowed down to three categories: the physical attributes of the campus, a sense of community,
and a sense of belonging. Research is given on each of these topics as well as critiques to the
current state of the university. Recommendations are given in order to increase the amount of
students that would want to live on campus in the future.

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How the University of Memphis can Increase the Residential Life Enrollment and Retention
among College Students
Living on campus can be a vital part of the college student career throughout their years
in college. Some colleges and universities require that first year students live on campus in order
to increase their retention rates and increase their performance in the class room (Araujo and
Murray, 2010). Araujo and Murray (2010) found that living on campus could increase a students
overall GPA by a margin of 0.19 to 0.97. This could be due to the magnitude of resources that
are offered on campus after hours and within the residence halls themselves. Living in a
residence hall also provides a sense of community for the student that they may not be able to
find otherwise. According to Saret (n.d.), she states that students that are unable to integrate into
a community environment are more likely to drop out of college and not return. This addressed
the need for a strong community with in the residence halls and the college itself. A large part of
feeling like you belong to a community also involves feeling as if the college values you as an
individual and finding a sense of belonging in the institution. With all of these benefits to living
on campus, why is it that the University of Memphis is struggling to fill their residence halls.
With only 10% of the student body living on campus, it doesnt seem like students are flocking
to live on campus. This poses a question. What can the university do in order to increase the
amount of students looking to live on campus? There are multiple factors that go in to assessing
this question; are students drawn to the physical attributes of the campus, can they fit into a
community on campus, and do they find a safe sense of belonging on campus?
The first thing a student notices on a college campus is the physical campus itself
(Strange and Banning, 2001). This means that the college has to attract the student upon first

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glance. There are a few questions that you can ask in order to figure out if the campus is
attractive according to McAvoy (2015): Do the students on campus seem to be using the entire
campus? Are there places on campus where students can meet and interact comfortably? Are
there activities happening on campus where students are interacting and having a good time?
Are there many secluded areas on campus that seem unsafe? A student may be walking around
the University of Memphis campus silently answering these questions. Since this is a largely
commuter based school, there are many days that the school seems to be empty. Fridays for
instance have a very low number of students on campus. If a potential student was coming to
visit the campus on a Friday, they would notice the lack of student body on campus and maybe
think that there was a lack of student involvement on campus. On days that are very busy and
student active, there are some key areas of campus that seem to be the busiest. Those areas
would be the dining areas as well as the Student Center or University Center. These locations
are all located within buildings. It does not seem like there are many areas of campus that
encourage outdoor activities for students or an area that is used by students. Because of this, it
may be difficult for an incoming student to be sold on the fact that the college has a welcoming,
enriching, and community based environment. Because very few areas of campus are very
heavily populated by the students, this leaves many areas of campus open and unpopulated. This
may make students feel uncomfortable walking around campus, walking to the far away parking
lots, or accessing particular resources on campus that may be out of the way.
According to Strange and Banning (2001), there are obvious physical limitations and
gains to a college environment, but they also conclude that there are non-verbal attributes that

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predict how the institution behaves and what the institution values based on their physical
environment. With this in mind, looking at the University of Memphis from an outsiders point
of view, there are a few limitations to the physical environment of the institution. The first major
drawback to the campus environment is the lack of access to the school. Though it is a public
campus, there is no public parking on or around the campus. This forces the potential student to
only drive around the campus. Unfortunately for the University of Memphis, the most attractive
parts of the school are the parts that must be walked to. These attractive parts are the grassy
areas, the fronts of the University Center and the admiration building, as well as the courtyard
with the fountain in the middle. None of these attractive features can be seen from the road that
outsiders have access to. This could potentially send the message to students that they are not
welcomed or that the admiration does not value a student that is looking to enter the institution.
It could make the school seem more like a private campus and not a public one. According to
McAvoy (2015), the more accessible the campus is, the more the university is encouraging
students and members of the public to come on to campus, which will increase students interest
in the campus as well as enrolment.
When looking at verbal and non-verbal communication from the college, it seems
common that these two types of communication do not tell the same story. According to an
analysis of work completed by Eckman and cited in (?)by Strange and Banning (2001), the
nonverbal communication tends to speak louder than the verbal and can be more truthful. At this
point, around 83% of schools use electronic tools in order to help students get a better idea of
what schools look like and how they could fit into that environment without ever stepping on to

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campus (Cross, 2015). But without the visit to the campus and seeing the campus with their own
eyes, they cannot assess the legitimacy of the electronic and virtual previews. An example of
this on the University of Memphis campus would be their virtual tours of the residence halls on
the Residence Life section of the university website. A potential student could go on to this
section of the university website and take a virtual tour of each residence hall and see which hall
they would like to live in. Though, upon closer evaluation, these virtual tours are very
manipulate to make the rooms seem bigger than they actually are. The rooms are presented in
360 format but are warped in a way that the rooms appear longer and the items in the room
appear more spread out. In some rooms they take out some of the furniture in order to make the
rooms seem more spacious as well. When the student ends up coming on campus, they will see
the illegitimacy of the residence halls. They may have set their expectations too high and could
be disappointed by the school, which may lead to a lack of retention.
Another factor of students wanting to live in the residence halls is to find a sense of
community. One way that universities attempt to encourage a sense of community is to
implement Living Learning Communities in the residence halls. Stassen (2003) concluded that
students that live in Living Learning Communities obtain higher GPAs, have higher retention
rates, and have a better overall learning experience. According to Vanderbilt University (2015), a
Living Learning Community can be defined as a community that provides opportunities for
students with similar educational interest to live together in residence halls that offer a structured
learning environment. This is assisted by extra interaction with faculty members as well as
program coordinators that do programming specific to each of the focuses of the learning

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communities. Strange and Banning (2015) would identify this as a high-context community with
students are deeply invested in the learning of the entire group and the development of the group.
The University of Memphis department of Residence Life does incorporate some Living
Learning Communities into their halls. Though these seem to be more living communities than
learning communities. There are certain groups of students that are forced to live together such
as first generation students, engineering students, international students, and honors students.
There are no guidelines to these learning communities other than the demographic that they are a
part of. The do not have learning goals or programs that are gear specifically to their major.
There are also no resources for them within the resident halls to encourage their development in
their chosen learning community. So these are not Living Learning Communities. These are
communities of students that are a part of the same group. It would seem that these groups are
lacking in their goal making. When reading the University of Memphis website page about the
Living Learning Communities, each of the descriptions about the communities promotes bonding
and a sense of belonging but does not outline goals, learning opportunities or programming that
would be offered to each of the students. What it does promote is a living community of similar
students.
Relating to the physical appearance and functionality of the campus, we can assess if a
community will thrive based on the spaces available for students to interact and socialize. These
spaces may not only be used for the students to come together but also the faculty members with
the students. Strange and Banning (2015) conclude that students will have a greater sense of
belonging and community if there are spaces on campus that promote sharing and interaction,

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not only with their peers but also with their faculty. There would also need to be parts of campus
that promote and celebrate community as well as promote diversity and empowerment. They
concluded that there are three major criteria in assessing a community: the students have a
commitment to the community, there is a sense of empowerment in the community, and they
have a sense that their community matters and is valued by the institution. Having strong nit
communities, like ones created in a residence hall, can encourage students to stay in college and
succeed (Building Engaging Campuses, 2008). This pushes colleges to encourage community
building. Though, it seems that the University of Memphis is struggling in this category. Based
on the university polices, they are very limited with their programming efforts and what is
available to the students. In the area of diversity, there is no programming allowed to learn about
specific cultures, religions, or backgrounds. This can lower the comfort level of people in
minority groups. This can make members of the group feel undervalued by the university. Also,
it seems as if the voice of the student body is not taken into strong consideration. There is no
form of assessment in place for students to make suggestions or criticisms about the current state
of the residence hall environment that could potentially benefit the community. This could
disempower the student body and keep them from developing a strong community. Based on
these two viewpoints alone could lower the commitment to the community from the community
members. This is shown by the lack of attendance to the programs put on by the university
representatives in the residence halls, the lack of students staying in the residence halls over the
weekends as well as the lack of student engagement on campus.

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These ideas go along with the third attribute to students wanting to stay on campus,
belonging. Students that come from diverse backgrounds, first generation students, low income
students, and essentially all students on campus, can benefit from feeling as if they are a member
of their community environment and have a sense of belonging and pride to the university.
Diversity is a very important part of this sense of belonging for many reasons. Diversity expands
our worldliness, enhances our social development, prepares students for career success, and
promotes creative thinking, social awareness, and self-reflection. By promoting diversity in
every aspect on campus, more and more students will have a sense of belonging that will
encourage them to stay in college. By not encouraging all diversity or all minority groups and
only focusing on a small few, the University of Memphis could be strongly discouraging students
of other minority groups from coming to the campus. As stated earlier with the idea of nonverbal
communication, by having many organizations for one single minority group and having zero for
many others, it is showing students that there is a lack of care for those groups of people there for
they are unwelcomed to the campus.
Feeling unwelcomed may not be the only reason why a student may feel uncomfortable
being on campus. There is a strong push for all universities to promote a safe and inclusive
environment (Strange and Banning, 2001). Referring back to the section about the physical
environment of the campus, there are many parts of the University of Memphis campus that
become unpopulated on different days or at certain times of day. This could encourage an uneasy
feeling among the students on campus. These unpopulated, under-lit areas of campus can
encourage negative behavior that may impact the entire campus. According to Strange and

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Banning, the increase of vandalism, harassment, hazing and many other crimes on campus may
cause an institution to have a difficult time fostering an enriching learning environment for
students. This could be another factor in the idea that students will lose interest in a university if
they feel as if the university does not value them and their safety. Personal safety and
inclusiveness on campus should be held at a high degree. Though in many cases on the
University of Memphis campus, it seems is these two aspects are not held highly enough. There
are many cases with in the resident halls where students are under underappreciated and
devalued because of their background or culture. There seems to be a lack of concern for the
LGBT community on campus and other cultures seem to be more important. There is a strong
lack of cultural sensitivity in the resident halls that needs to be addressed to make students feel
like they are valued and as if they are a member of not only their building community but the
entire community.
Strange and Banning (2001) also address the problem with having only large residence
halls on campus. They conclude that a smaller residence hall promotes a more enriching
community where the students can build better bonds and have a greater sense of belonging to
the university. High rise residence halls are more like apartment complexes or business
buildings and less like a place for community to flourish. The University of Memphis has many
large residence halls on campus with most having multiple having more than four stories. These
may not be the best style of buildings that would foster community building. With these styles of
buildings, there are also less common spaces within the halls for students to utilize. Also, with

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such a large number of students living in one space, they might not feel comfortable going to a
single common space that is intended for the entire building.
Based on the previous research and current view of the campus, suggestions and
recommendations can be made in order to come to solutions about how to increase the number of
students who live on campus. First, based on the research based on the campus physical
environment, the University of Memphis can make the campus more accessible to the
surrounding community. By breaking down the barriers that keep potential students out, we can
bring more potential students on to campus and increase the interest in potential students. There
needs to be more parking on campus that is allowed for non-students. At this point, if a
perspective student were to come to campus, they would need to park illegally just to be within
walking distance of the administration building and risk getting a ticket. The University of
Memphis needs to make it easier for these perspective students to see the campus. From the
road, the campus does not look as nice as the inner campus.
When thinking about students in a community, the community needs to have clear goals
and aspirations in order to benefit their learning environment. The goals of the community may
just be to have a good college experience, but what is the University doing to meet these goals
and how are they assessing if these goals are met. In the Living Learning Communities, there
also needs to be better defined goals of each of the focuses. The communities need to be able to
have a purpose. That purpose may to foster a community of learners with common interest. But
what is the university doing to foster that community. Having those students live in the same
place is a fantastic first step, but the university needs to go further to enrich that environment and

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help those students become strong leaders in their chosen fields. Also, to benefit community, the
campus needs to make more environments to foster spontaneous conversation or planned
meeting space. At this time there doesnt seem to be enough common spaces or community
spaces on campus to encourage community building to all of the students of the university. With
such limited space, only so many people can utilize it. When the space is being utilized, this only
encourages students to go back to their private spaces and not interact with the community.
With an increased community and physical campus environment, a sensation of
belonging will begin to occur. The University of Memphis does a very good job with
encouraging school spirit throughout the university. Students feel very connected when they are
representing blue and gray. But there are many other ways the university can encourage students
to feel as if they belong. One way is to encourage the minority groups on campus to be involved.
There are ways for students to create their own clubs, but without ones being created for them, it
can make them feel underrepresented and undervalued. The school could also bring more
diversity programming into the residence hall with more opportunities to learn about culture,
background and diversity. This may make students feel more welcomed and represented. An
inclusive environment is a step in the right direction, but we also have to produce a safe
environment. Steps to build a safer environment may be locked doors of residences halls were
only students that live in the buildings have access, more lights around campus, and less
unpopulated areas. The university may have an opportunity to use these underpopulated areas of
campus as new community building areas. This would increase community building on campus

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as well as making a closer knit environment and at the same time discouraging criminal behavior
on campus.
Based on previous research done in the field, the University of Memphis could increase
the attractiveness of the institution by applying some of these recommendations based on
community, physical attributes that foster a higher learning environment, and making the
students feel as if they have a sense of belonging on campus.
References
Arajuo, P., & Murray, J. (2010). Estimating the Effects on Dormitory Living and Student
Performance. Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research. Retrieved from
http://www.iub.edu/~caepr/RePEc/PDF/2010/CAEPR2010-002.pdf
Building Engaging Campuses. (2008). Retrieved April 19, 2015, from
http://www.compact.org/wpcontent/uploads/resources/downloads/Retention_Research_Brief.pdf
Cross, D. (2015). YouVisit's Blog. Retrieved April 19, 2015, from
http://www.youvisit.com/virtual-tours/
Hyman, J., & Jacobs, L. (2009). Why Does Diversity Matter in College Anyway? Retrieved
April 19, 2015, from http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professorsguide/2009/08/12/why-does-diversity-matter-at-college-anyway
Living Learning Communities. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 19, 2015, from
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ResEd/main/living-learning-communities/
McAvoy, S. (2015). How to make campus environments more inviting to students | University
Affairs. Retrieved April 19, 2015, from http://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/studentvoices/how-to-make-campus-environments-more-inviting-to-students/
Saret, L. (n.d.). Ways Faculty Can Encourage Student Retention. Retrieved April 19, 2015, from
http://www.oakton.edu/user/1/lsaret/LauraSaretOaktonWebSite/Ways Faculty Can
Encourage Student Retention.htm
Strange, C., & Banning, J. (2001). Educating by design: Creating campus learning environments
that work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Term Paper Grading Rubric

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Strength of content sound thesis statement or research question; addressed topic

thoroughly 100/100
Research ample sources to cover the goals of the paper; sources are from peer
reviewed scholarly journals 40/50
Presentation organization, appropriate academic writing style, 48/50 a few
proofing errors exist
Attention to appropriate citation of information from sources or similar technical
detail; minimal proofing errors - proper use of APA formatting; minimal proofing
errors 49/50 review how to cite sources within other sources, but remember to use
these sparingly always strive to get the original source (you may find other
valuable information in that source!).
237/250 points This is a well organized, well written paper and develops some good
recommendations. Those recommendations could be strengthened with more
research based evidence.