Impact of Staying in Student Dormitories on Educational Outcomes: Evidence from the University of Chittagong

Abstract

Students’ staying in dormitories is often considered an important factor influencing their academic performance as the dormitories provide structured environment, academic support, and access to peer networks. It is believed that if students perform better in their university life in terms of educational outcomes, their labor market outcomes would also be better and hence they could contribute to the economy significantly. However, the actual impact of dormitory residence on students’ academic outcomes remains an empirical question, particularly in the context of Bangladeshi universities. Therefore, this study focuses on the university students’ educational performance based on their residential status. In order to pursue the empirical analysis this study applied a multiple regression model estimated by ordinary least-squares (OLS) method. Primary data have been collected from a sample of 240 students studying in different disciplines at the University of Chittagong. In addition to residential status, age, dummy for gender, and dummy for whether a respondent’s family owns or rents a house in Chittagong city were used as explanatory variables. Estimated results suggest that there is no statistically significant difference between the treatment group (students staying in dormitory) and the control group (those not staying in dormitory) in educational outcomes. This finding has important policy implications. In order to harness benefits of student dormitory in terms of educational performance authority can initiate measures to restrict student politics and increase budgetary allocation for ensuring healthy meals in student dormitories.