Create a Robust Residency Culture

1. Ensure a supportive environment on campus. Improve disparities among students of color, first generation students and LGBTQ+ students as reported in surveys about on-campus housing.
2. Increase opportunities for all students through living-learning and theme-based learning communities.
3. Increase student participation in co-curricular experiences.
4. Improve the holistic well-being of St. Thomas students as measured by the American College Health Association – National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA).
5. Retain more students into their third year at St. Thomas. Reduce attrition between second year and third year by 1.5 percent.
6. Close the racial and economic gap in the percentage of incoming students who submit waivers to live off-campus.
7. Market our residency options with excitement to incoming students and ensure a fair and smooth waiver process.
8. Achieve 5-yr fundraising goal of $7.5 million for housing grants to ensure equitable access to living on campus.

The St. Thomas 2025 Strategic Plan debuted in February 2021. We continually track and report on our progress; here are key developments from the past year, as of February 2024:

We have made great gains towards our goal of creating a robust residency culture for students on the St. Thomas campus. We have raised $7.5M towards housing grants and have met 96% of our goal of ensuring a supportive environment on campus.

We conducted a survey of first-year students in fall 2023 to measure satisfaction across the resident student experience. The scores range from 1 (low) to 7 (high) with the national/industry benchmarking Goal of 5.25-5.5. Our findings demonstrate the last two years have seen the highest satisfaction ratings over the last 10+ years. Among the highlights are the following scores: Positively Contributed to Learning: 5.58; Overall Satisfaction: 5.62; and Sense of Community: 5.7. The sense of community in the residence halls score for students of color is at the goal level and is similar to that of white students.

We have also met 100% of our goal of increasing opportunities for students to participate in Living Learning and Theme-Based Learning Communities. We have achieved a 32% increase in first-year students living in the 14 Living Learning Communities (LLCs) with 725 first-year students choosing to live in an LLC in Fall 2023. Two new LLCs have been established: Science Discovery Scholars and Study of Sport, which connects to the newly announced Sport Studies minor and combines courses from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Morrison Family College of Health.

LLC student sense of connection increased by 5% in Fall 2023 compared to Fall 2022 according to Residence Life survey data. This increase can be contributed to utilizing fall 2022 survey results where students said they wanted connection opportunities beyond the approximately 150 faculty and/or course related activities/events. For Fall 2023, four LLC Student Coordinators were hired and in addition to supporting the course-related activities, they created 35 more connection/social-based activities/events.

We have seen a 250% increase in Second Year Living Learning Communities (SYLLC) participation from 30 students in Fall 2022 to 76 students in Fall 2023. These SYLLCs partner with the Office of Sustainability Initiatives, Aquinas Scholars Honors Program, College of Business, and Common Good Scholars (Theology). LLC Student Coordinators and Faculty/Academic Units provided opportunities for connection and engagement, including off-campus excursions, campus sustainability events, academic unit activities, and in-hall socialization.

• Karen Lange, Vice President for Student Affairs (Primary)
• Rachel Harris, Student Affairs