Student_Affairs_Annual_Assessment_Report_2021

22 EVALUATION: Improving occupancy rates within the residence halls by 20% (by fall 2025) is Key Result 14 of the Student Affairs Strategic Action Plan (2020-2025) . The Fall 2020 census day occupancy was 522 students making the fall 2025 goal 626. The Spring 2021 census day occupancy was 480 making the Spring 2026 occupancy goal 576. Once achieved, this improved occupancy will increase student engagement and satisfaction within the residence halls, help maintain our better-than-peers retention percentage and increase auxiliary revenue. Key Result 14 (g) of the plan calls for the administration of the SkyFactor Benchworks assessment to identify additional efforts to improve the residential experience. This well-established assessment tool will provide benchmarked data on what students like and do not like about living on campus. This data will drive the next phase of work to improve occupancies within the residence halls, new Key Results in the next strategic plan, and was authorized in the FY 22 budget. Our current offerings are not graduate student friendly which is reflected in their low percentage of the residential population (fall .19% and spring .43%). Graduate student housing should be reviewed in the next strategic plan. Steele Hall could be an ideal space for renovations and the creation of graduate student housing. Hispanic students represent 1.15% of the fall 2020 residential population but 2.94% of the Northern student headcount. The gap widens for spring 2021 where Hispanic students represent 1.04% of residential students and 2.96% of the headcount. A review of the headcount distribution between degree-seeking and non-degree seeking Hispanic students may provide context for this gap. Hispanic students from fall 2020 were 38.61% non-degree seeking and 58.42% degree seeking. When compared to multiracial students who were 29.90% non-degree seeking and 64.95 degree-seeking, we observe closer alignment between residential participation and headcount percentage. A greater percentage of multiracial students being degree-seeking might explain their more significant residential participation, as degree-seeking students are more likely to be full-time and live on campus than non- degree seeking students. We also know from research that Hispanic students “tend to prefer” colleges closer to home (Perez & McDonough, 2008) and therefore are less likely to live on campus. Regardless of the reasons for the gap between headcount and residential participation, Hispanic students are less likely to benefit from the student success and retention programs of Residence Life than students of other backgrounds. Northern should 1.) seek to encourage more Hispanic students to live on campus, or 2.) identify opportunities to supplement this service gap, and/or 3.) determine if retention rates are consistent with this gap in residential participation. Perez, P.A., & McDonough, P.M. (2008). Understanding Latina and Latino college choice: A social capital and chain migration analysis. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education , 7(3), 249-265.