On-campus living requirement increases retention, creates campus culture
Question: Why do first-year students have to live on campus?
From the perspective of the University of Idaho, it is better to have students live on campus as it improves retention. In evaluating the efficacy of this policy, the university found that, compared to first-year students who lived off campus, those who lived on campus were over 20 percent more likely to return for their sophomore year. This is the main reason for having the policy.
Max Cowan
While some speculate the policy is an effort to force students to pay extra for housing, I disagree. UI doesn’t care if you live in university-owned housing, as the increased retention numbers include students who live in fraternities and sororities.
Additionally, from the student perspective, requiring first-year students to live on campus helps build a stronger campus community. Living on campus for the first year provides a shared experience and is vital to ensuring that we as students get a chance to know our peers. Without this common connection, UI would not have the thriving student life that makes our campus special.
[box type=”info” border=”full”]Questions are posed by Argonaut columnist Max Cowan. If you have a question regarding university policies, procedures or student life, email [email protected][/box]
Question: Why do some faculty members get away with doing only research without teaching? I don’t want my tuition dollars wasted on faculty who never teach me.
It’s first important to note each faculty member has a job description, which divides work into three areas: instruction, research and university service. Not every faculty member’s job description divides time among these three areas in the same way.
A lot of students have strong opinions about faculty who are engaged in mostly research, with relatively little time allocated for instruction. The truth is faculty salaries are not paid for exclusively by tuition dollars. Many faculty receive private research funding, as well as state and federal grants and contracts to do their research.
This means while some faculty may spend much of their time on research, this is often the product of their funding source. Student tuition isn’t “wasted” on faculty who spend time doing research. Much of the time they spend on research is funded without using tuition.
Further, our research is what sets UI apart from the other institutions in our state. UI is the only land-grant research institution in our state. Because of this research, students have opportunities we couldn’t get anywhere else. Being a part of a campus engaged in this work is a valuable resource, especially when so many students work in laboratories and help with faculty scholarship.
Even if you never take part in these research opportunities, you still benefit from the research done here at UI. The value of a college degree comes from how our university is perceived nationally. Research is one of the ways UI receives recognition. The stronger our research, the more our degrees are worth.
Max Cowan can be reached at [email protected]