National Collegiate Honors Council
Date of this Version
Spring 2007
Abstract
Construction is not an uncommon sight on college and university campuses today. Such importance is placed on facilities that erection, addition, and modernization costs totaled more than 14.5 billion dollars in the United States during the 2005 calendar year (Agron, 2006). Collegiate administrators have come to realize that prospective students and their guardians focus not only on the academic quality of an institution but also on the vehicle through which that product is conveyed (Hanish & Romano, 2003).
The physical environment of a campus plays an important role in the eventual selection of an institution. Students spend a great deal of time and energy discerning the distinctive merits of housing amenities before finalizing their selection (Baltic, 2001). If academic programs are comparable between institutions, any edge a college or university has with its physical plant might sway an undecided student. Of the funds devoted to erection, addition, and modernization of campus facilities, 18% were devoted to residential buildings in 2005 (Agron, 2006). Residential students are no longer willing to accept older or outdated facilities, especially when other schools or off campus competitors are more amenable to provide them what they seek (Whittington, 1974). With numerous options from which to choose, the student as a consumer must be taken seriously.
Comments
Published in Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council 8:1, Spring/Summer 2007. Copyright © 2007 by the National Collegiate Honors Council.