Collegiate Recreation Participation and Retention

Abstract

Colleges and universities have been focusing on the rising costs to attend college and their impact on current and future students. Recruitment and retention of students is critical in justifying programmatic and academic offerings. In addition, recruitment and retention have an impact on the institution's bottom line. This article attempts to prove a correlation between a collegiate recreation program and retention. Specifically, first year retention rates were examined on students who participate in club sports, use the student recreation center, and are employed by the campus recreation department. The results of this study can be useful to the collegiate recreation practitioner to answer the question of “does your program have an impact on retention?” It is the hope that this study is duplicated to further emphasize the relationship of collegiate recreation programs and their positive relationship on retention.

“Cool” Party, Bro: The Fraternity Use of Party Structure as a Mechanism for Control over Female Status on Campus

“…Today, university campuses have become the equivalent to small cities, complete with state-of-the-art recreational facilities, multiple dining facilities, and student unions equipped with coffee shops and storefronts (Dalgarn 2001;June 2006;Lindsey and Sessoms 2006). These resources offer students a myriad of opportunities to meet one another, participate in activities, and immerse themselves in the college experience (Andrijaševic, Ciliga, and Jurakic 2009;Arslan 2013;Artinger et al 2006;Clark and Anderson 2011;Kampf and Teske 2013). These types of recreational activities are considered essential in building a new student's peer circle and connecting them with the college or university (Dalgarn 2001;Kampf and Teske 2013;Rayle and Chung 2007).…”

“…These resources offer students a myriad of opportunities to meet one another, participate in activities, and immerse themselves in the college experience (Andrijaševic, Ciliga, and Jurakic 2009;Arslan 2013;Artinger et al 2006;Clark and Anderson 2011;Kampf and Teske 2013). These types of recreational activities are considered essential in building a new student's peer circle and connecting them with the college or university (Dalgarn 2001;Kampf and Teske 2013;Rayle and Chung 2007). However, on many campuses partying and associated culture becomes the recreational activity of choice for many students (Allison and Risman 2014;Rhoads 1995;Sanday 2007;Shinew and Parry 2005;Smith and Brown 1998;Weiss 2013).…”

Constraints and Negotiations to Student Recreational Sport Center Usage

“…For example, some universities have health and wellness satellite offices within their SRSCs (e.g., University of New Hampshire's THRIVE) or even have combined departments (e.g., Elon University's Campus Recreation & Wellness). Furthermore, studies have shown that students who use SRSCs have better academic performance and may also remain more connected with the university through continued enrollment (Danbert et al, 2014;Kampf & Teske, 2013).…”

The development of a reliable theory-based psychological instrument to measure cognitions relating to participation in university recreational sports

“…Students participating in university sport experience a number of benefits (Huesman, Brown, Lee, Kellogg, & Radcliffe, 2009;Kampf & Teske, 2013). Despite this, a decrease in participation rates is often found when students enter higher education (Gucciardi & Jackson, 2015).…”