The number of students living on-campus for the approximately 4,500 non-state institutions has increased from just over 43% in 2011 to nearly 53% just four years later in 2015. The pie graph below shows the movement from 2011 to 2015 with the yellow slice indicating the percentage of students living on-campus.
2011
2015
Initially, I thought it was in keeping with an economic recovery, but the the off campus changes are interesting:
-
Students living off campus with family declined just one percentage point from 20-19%
-
Students living off campus, not with family, declined from 33% to 26%
The costs of living off campus can range widely depending on location. This recent article by Ben Myers suggests high variability in the best guess of off campus living. This just simply might not be a cost savings measure. Perhaps living on campus is simply a cool thing again and the value and benefits of being near the action are driving this change.
