The Impact of Residential Life on the Development of Long-Term Relationships in Higher Education

Abstract:Higher education provides a transformative experience for students, allowing the opportunity for continuous change and the development of skills needed to grow independently and interdependently with students around them. Similarly, higher education equips students with the tools to continue changing and flourishing after graduation. For many higher education institutions, residential life departments are tasked with the responsibility of fostering the holistic development of students living on-campus. Residential life departments provide transformational experiences for students, including the role of developing college friendships. Yet, when considering the traditionally held benefits of on-campus student housing, ambiguity exists among higher education administrators and researchers regarding the permanence and long-lasting impact of these friendships after a student leaves the institution.This study explored the structural and programmatic impact of on-campus housing at liberal arts colleges on the transition of student friendships into long term meaningful relationships post-graduation. Moreover, this study utilized a qualitative research approach to explore how the campus environment influenced long-term, meaningful relationships. Strange and Banning’s (2015) campus ecology framework was used as the primary theoretical lens to understand the influences of physical, organizational, human aggregate, and constructed campus environments.