Why you should live on campus

At Charleston Southern, we are a community. A huge piece that holds us together is our residence life which is focused around five themes: student engagement, academic success, inclusion and belonging, life after college, and self-care and wellness. 

Many of our students live on campus, especially their first year, to meet new friends and get involved. It is also a trend for students to live in our residence halls after their first year because of the great experiences they have had. 

Students who live on campus beyond their freshman year:

• Are more likely to persist and graduate
• Gain more interpersonal contacts with faculty and peers
• Experience greater personal growth and development
• Have higher academic engagement and grade point average
• Have higher social-interpersonal engagement
• Participate more in out-of-class activities
• Have more positive and inclusive attitudes and openness to diversity
• Find more satisfaction with their undergraduate experience

Chase Adcock and Madison Ragan, seniors, have lived on campus all four years. Adcock said, “I like the community around campus. It’s like a large family, and there are so many people to talk and engage with. The events on campus are extremely fun as well, and I try to go to each one.” 

Ragan also highlighted these points and added, “It is much more convenient for classes, especially while being in AFROTC and having early morning PT. Also, off campus living in Charleston can be expensive.” 

Source: How College Affects Students: A Third Decade of Research by Ernest Pascarella and Patrick Terenzini. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers

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