Assignment 9A- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2
Who: Through my interviews, I learned that a group of people who didn't experience my stated opportunity, but should've, were students that had no problem resorting to living on-campus. While searching for off-campus housing was an option for them and they experienced what it was like for a short period of time, they didn't find they had as much frustration as they thought they would. Two of my interviewees stated they were offered to move in with a mutual friend of their's, however after experiencing their friend's frustration during the house hunting process, opted to stay and renew their application to live in on-campus housing again. Another interviewee explained that because they had extra rent money from a full-ride scholarship, they didn't feel limited to their options since money wasn't so much of an issue, so they only experienced a small extent of the issue. My fourth interviewee was very similar to my last one in that they were graduating seniors who didn't have to worry much about finding housing options anymore since so many people sublease for one semester and there are many options/deals to choose from.
What: The need isn't to find a housing option that is either close to campus, affordable, or decent to live in, but rather a housing option for students that incorporates all of those elements together. I found that this problem didn't affect as wide of a variety of students as I anticipated, but still was prevalent to the students who did experience this opportunity. For students who have many options or are open to alternatives in their housing situation (for example students that don't mind on-campus housing), this doesn't appear to be as big of a problem.
Why: The group of students who fall inside the boundaries have a different underlying cause than those that fall outside of the boundaries. Many students that fell inside the boundaries are lower income or first-generation and international students that have to very carefully allocate their money to their different expenses. Those that fell outside of the boundary may have experienced similar struggles, but don't have the need for a solution since it doesn't technically affect them anymore.
Inside the Boundary Outside the Boundary
Who: Students currently apartment hunting Students living on campus/graduating
What: Decent living options for students that are More student housing close to campus
affordable and close to campus
affordable and close to campus
Why: -Low-income students don't deserve bad housing just because they can't afford $900+ monthly rents or know how to properly apartment hunt if they're first-generation
-Students are desperate to find a place to live and landlords/apartment companies take advantage of the high demand and naive college students
Hey Jeanette,
ReplyDeleteI think one of the interesting (and probably frustrating) things about this need is the fact that all college students do have it. No one is opposed to having nice, affordable, housing near campus, but the extent to which they have it changes. I like how you interviewed a senior, because I think personally, the more time I have spent here, the more acceptable I am of having housing that may not be within walking distance from campus, but is still nice and affordable enough that it makes up for that. There is definitely some over-priced options out there, but there are a lot of people willing to pay that price to have some of the features you mentioned
I find it interesting that this problem doesn't affect as many people as you thought it would. I guess there are many students who either live on campus or have financial help from parents so this isn't as big of an issue for them. Never the less, for those that have this problem, I think it's very important that they have options that meet all of their needs. No one should have to live somewhere that's not decent just because they can't afford much.
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