Understanding Residence Student Transition Needs at Laurier

Originally published in March 2025 | Research Note contributed by: Melissa Pratt Morgan, Associate Director, Residence Education, Department of Residence; Dillon Arruda, Residence Manager, Student Learning, Department of Residence; and Debora VanNijnatten, Academic Director, Teaching Excellence and Innovation

What is the Pedagogical Challenge?

Student transition into university is acknowledged as a challenging time where first-year students are met with new life decisions requiring independence and self-sufficiency. Sanagavarapu et al. (2019) have categorized the challenges faced by students transitioning into the post-secondary sphere as personal (balancing academic activities and work/life outside class), academic (fulfilling expectations for study, writing, analytical skills, etc.) and socio-emotional (forming meaningful connections with others). Indeed, the third category may be the most significant; student involvement and connection to the institution in higher education is widely acknowledged in the literature as an influential factor in terms of persistence to degree completion, student satisfaction, and academic achievement (Astin, 1984; Lipscomb, 2007; Tinto, 2006). Students develop a sense of belonging as they navigate the higher education climate, get involved in curricular and co-curricular activities, develop relationships with peers and faculty, and achieve academic success (Bentrim et al., 2022).

With this in mind, the experiences students have in their first year of university play a key role in developing a student’s sense of belonging, both inside and outside the classroom. For faculty and staff, understanding the conditions for success in navigating this transition is key to supporting students and improving their chances of academic success.

Research Insights

Research rationale and approach

As Laurier considers how to meet the ever-changing transitional needs of students, colleagues within the Department of Residence facilitated a 2024-2025 Residence Experience Survey focused on better understanding the transitional needs of our first-year Residence students, in hopes of celebrating accomplishments, identifying gaps in service delivery, and supporting students as they persist into second-year and ultimately to degree completion.

A Qualtrics survey was utilized which contained a variety of questions related to the student experience at Laurier. In the end, the survey garnered 2,760 responses (82% response rate) between both the Waterloo and Brantford campuses. The survey opened on November 11th, 2024 and closed on November 24th, 2024.

This survey is run annually during the fall term in the Department of Residence and offers students with an opportunity to provide feedback on a variety of topics, including the transition to Laurier/orientation, learning experiences and events in residence, safety and security, food, and much more.

Survey respondents’ profiles

Screening questions at the start of the survey required students to self-identify their home campus (Waterloo or Brantford) as well as the floor they live on in Residence. Optional demographic data is also collected about the respondents to allow for further disaggregation of the data.

Survey Findings

Personal Challenges

Personal challenges refer to the hurdles that students may face in balancing their studies, life and family. In the survey, first-year students are largely reporting that – during the fall term at least – they were not completing paid work in addition to their academic course load as of November. Only about 18% of students were engaged in paid work outside of their academic commitments. We know from other data, however, that after first-year, more students are working as they experience financial pressures associated with continuing their studies (read TEI’s earlier Research Note on Getting to Know Laurier Students)

Academic challenges

Academic challenges denote difficulties that students face as they try to fulfill academic expectations and the changed modes of learning.

How much time are Laurier’s first-year students devoting to their studies, as they also try to balance extracurriculars, friends, and family? The general rule of thumb is that students should be spending 2-3 hours studying for each hour of class (see, for example, SFU’s Student Learning Commons “How to student efficiently and effectively”). Assuming that most students are taking 5 classes for 3 hours each week, this means that they should be studying for an additional 30 hours per week. However, the survey findings suggest that 86% of students are spending 20 hours or less on out-of-class study, with 27% studying 11-15 hours, another 27% studying only 6-10 hours per week and 14% spending 1-5 hours.

Students also report a relatively positive outlook on their academic performance, with 42% of respondents expecting a cumulative GPA of 7.1-9.0 and 27% expecting they are at a GPA of 10.0 and above. Of course, a student’s perception of their grades in their first year and first term of university would be solely based on any assignment or midterm grades they have received to that point, having not yet completed their first set of exams. When cross-referencing students perceived GPAs with actual fall term grades, students are not far off in their perceptions of academic achievement, where 40% of students finished the term with a cumulative GPA of 7.0-9.9 and 21% of students finished the fall term with a GPA of 10.0 or higher. The largest variance can be seen for the below 4.0 GPA category, where 3% of students perceived their cumulative GPA to fall under this range, but in reality, 12% of students wrapped up the fall term with a cumulative GPA of less than 4.0.

The word cloud below helps us visualize what students find most challenging about their coursework, namely balancing and time-managing their academic workload. Open-ended responses emphasize the difficulties associated with balancing weekly assignments and course/lab tasks with term projects requiring longer timeframes for analysis and writing. Noteworthy reflections from students on what they find most challenging about coursework include:

“One of the most challenging things about coursework at Laurier can be managing the workload and balancing multiple assignments and deadlines. It can feel overwhelming at times, especially when trying to stay on top of everything while also getting involved in campus life. Finding the balance is definitely a learning curve!”
“The most challenging part of my coursework at Laurier is balancing it with my commitments to sports and, soon, a job. Managing practices, games, and travel alongside assignments and studying can feel overwhelming at times, especially when deadlines overlap. It requires strong time management and discipline to stay on top of everything while still finding time to rest and recharge.”
"Scheduling is hard as you regularly have weekly assignments and labs but then major projects take away some of that time, having you miss a few deadlines."
“The sheer volume of work” and “a lot of assignments due at the same time”.

Figure 1: What do you find most challenging about your coursework at Laurier?

Socio-emotional challenges

Socio-emotional challenges involve the hurdles associated with forming meaningful connections with others and the sense of belonging that are so critical to postsecondary success. Belonging is based on basic human needs and the desire to live authentically (Verbree et al. 2024). With this in mind, the experiences students have both inside and outside the classroom play a key role in developing a student’s sense of belonging.

Students certainly understand the importance of belonging; survey respondents ranked ‘community at Laurier’ as equally important for choosing to study here as ‘availability of program of choice’ and ‘career-related experiences.’

Figure 2: Which of the following were important and influential for you when considering accepting your offer to Laurier?

Which of the following were important and influential for you when considering accepting your offer to Laurier?
Field	Choice Count
Academic Support and resources	750
Affordability or financial aid support	475
Availability of program of choice	1076
Career-related experience in my program	782
Career outcomes/job opportunities for graduates	1014
Community at Laurier – felt it was a good fit for me	1012
Location of the campus (in Waterloo or Brantford)	659
Reputation of Laurier	785
Residence options	383
Recreation and wellness offerings	138
Recommendations or testimonials from current students/friends	310

Relatedly, 50% of respondents indicate that they participate ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ in residence activities and programming, with 6% indicating that they 'always’ participate. However, a sizable portion – 44% – report ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ participating in residence activities. While it may be the case that some of these nonparticipating students are engaged with other opportunities on campus (clubs, events, etc.), it is also possible that these students aren’t engaged in the Laurier community at all.

It is clear that Residence plays a key role in students’ transition to university. 90% of respondents report that, as a result of living in Residence, they feel a sense of belonging at Laurier. In addition, 85% of students feel that living in Residence has supported their academic performance.

Observations

For decades, institutions have focused on the transition to post-secondary, resulting in a wide variety of programs and services that have been established to support this difficult transition, and to improve the first-year student experience (Gahagan & Hunter, 2006). Given the importance of a sense of belonging, engagement, and connection to a student’s persistence to graduation, ensuring students feel socially and academically connected to Laurier is key to student success (Tinto, 2006). Whether through residence, extracurricular activities, classroom interactions, and more, finding community and connection plays a key role in student success.

Faculty – and the learning experiences they foster in the classroom – have an important role to play in the transition process (see, for example, Howell 2009). Freeman et al. (2007) found, in one of the first large-scale surveys directed at the postsecondary level, that “students' sense of efficacy for succeeding in class and their perception of the value of tasks required in class were quite strongly associated with their sense of belonging.” In particular, encouraging student participation, interactions with peers and “providing a forum in which they can explore and solidify their opinions and identities may be an important factor in providing an appropriate environmental fit for their developmental needs” (Freeman et al. 2007).

Resources

Every student in residence has a Residence Life Don they can connect with for support and resources. There is also a Coordinator team of live-in professionals who provide 24/7 on-call support while residence is open. Should students need support connecting with resources, they are encouraged to connect with their Don or Residence Life Area Coordinator who are willing and able to support students.

Find more information on Residence>>

There are also many ways for students to get involved and engaged in their residence experience! Learn more about Residence Learning Communities/Clusters, the First Year Leadership Program and Affinity Groups!

Explore more in the Guide

TEI’s Guide contains more ideas for supporting students and creating inclusive and productive class environments where students can thrive!