Strategies for encouraging affiliation in commuting students include special public relations efforts, providing special opportunities and access, providing special services such as free telephone use, offering leadership opportunities, presenting social activities at needed times, including off-campus students in traditional events, promoting…

The relationships between residential setting (home or away) and gender and the perceptions of late adolescents of their relationships with their parents were studied for 404 undergraduates. Living away is associated with greater independence, support, and mutual respect between students and parents. Women report more mutuality and support than do…

This study profiled the preferred productivity and learning style preferences of 63 off-campus and 43 on-campus distance education students enrolled at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, during Spring 1995. Using the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS), it found no overall differences between the productivity and…

The greatest impediment to the provision of adequate and appropriate campus services for commuter students is their diversity. It is important to identify the needs of commuting students since they may have little interest in traditional campus programs and services. Though they are an extremely diverse population, nontraditional commuting…

Many at-risk college students fail to avail themselves of the resources provided for them by their universities. In the interest of academic retention, colleges and universities are taking an increasingly proactive stance and contacting at-risk students to offer them specific services. This study compared retention rates for at-risk freshman…

A study was conducted at Pennsylvania State University to determine the degree of involvement in college life of commuter students aged 25 or older. A sample was drawn from a list of 1,449 students identified by the university as being 25 or older. From these names, 502 were selected as commuters (living more than five miles from campus) and…

Seventeen tables are presented showing average expenses for resident students, commuting students, and self-supporting students attending over 2,400 postsecondary institutions for 1975-76. Some of the findings indicate: (1) The difference in total expenses for residents and commuter students is approximately $400. (2) Total expenses rose faster at…

This study investigated the contributions of entering characteristics and college experiences on student satisfaction and degree completion using the input-environment-outcome assessment model developed by A. W. Astin (1995). A total of 594 college students who had started college about 5 years previously completed a survey about their college…

Examines marginality issues facing transfer commuter students attending a mid-Atlantic university and what student characteristics relate to their sense of marginality. Results showed that transfer students have few sources of on-campus support, which may lead to their feelings of marginality. Results were particularly true for woman and Asian…

A survey investigated the attitudes of commuter students toward distance education. Respondents were 397 students attending Purdue University Calumet (Indiana) for at least two semesters. Results indicated that if the students had the option of taking a course at home or in a classroom, 59 percent would use the distance option; over half of these…

Indirect student costs at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington were studied: semester expenses for food, shelter, clothing, books and supplies, personal items, health care, transportation, and child care. Selected cost data were also compared to student characteristics including: whether they had ever received financial aid from the…

Results of a survey of student living expenses at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, are summarized. Cost data were collected on food, clothing, shelter, books and supplies, personal expenses, medical costs, transportation, and child care. Of a random sample of 433 students, 145 responded to the survey. Respondents consisted of…

Information is presented about the costs of pursuing education beyond high school at different institutions. An introductory section analyzes student-expense data on a nationwide basis. Student expenses are listed for approximately 2,930 postsecondary institutions. Analyses are provided for four different budget types: budgets for dependent…

Upper-level institutions of higher education, offering course work at only the junior, senior, and in some cases postgraduate level, are discussed. Two upper-level institutions that are part of the University of Houston system are cited as examples: The University of Houston at Clear Lake City and the University of Houston Victoria Campus. In the…