The Dorm’s Not the Norm

Glimpse inside a 10-by-15-foot space crammed with bunk beds, desks, and an eclectic melange of stuff. It’s the iconic college dormitory room, a longtime symbol of student life.

Except that most college students don’t live in a dorm these days.

Just 17.6% of the students responding to OnCampus Research’s July 2011 survey said they planned to move into a dorm or other campus housing for the fall term. It’s no shocker that college students—most of whom grew up with private bedrooms and often private bathrooms—don’t want to share a cramped one-room box and traipse down a communal hallway to take a shower. Had more schools not required non-commuter freshmen to live on campus, that percentage might have been even lower.

But off-campus apartment complexes aren’t necessarily where you’ll find the rest of the student body this semester. The largest number, 40.3% of survey respondents, are still bunking at home with Mom and Dad, possibly because it’s the cheapest room and board around. Almost 37% of students said housing costs influenced their living arrangements “a great deal” this school year.

What about the student seeking to set up his crib in an Animal House? Just 1.3% of students are residing in a fraternity or sorority house.

Saving Versus Spending: You Choose Both

A. College students like to save money on back-to-school shopping.
B. College students like to spend money on back-to-school shopping.

Which statement is true? Answer: All of the above. Where school purchases are concerned, students are a shopping bag full of contradictions!

On the one hand, students are trying to stretch their dollars. In OnCampus Research’s Back-to-School Survey, 57.2% of you admitted that you’re buying more store brands or generic products and 75.3% are doing more comparative shopping before making a purchase. Almost 83% of students said they’re shopping for deals and sales more often this year.

On the other hand, students still like to treat themselves to the good stuff. More than 46% of you said that you’re willing to spend more for quality products and a full third of students will pay more for brands they particularly favor. Almost 43% of you will top up your spending for products you really crave.

So what are the items you and your peers planned to debut on your first day back to campus? Almost 76% planned to step into fall classes wearing new clothes, 62.7% expected to sport new kicks, and 40.9% will be pimping out their dorm rooms or off-campus apartments with new furnishings. You may think you and your friends already possess every trendy gadget there is, but there is always room for more! Electronics and computer-related goodies were on the back-to-class shopping lists of 55.4% students. Almost a quarter of student respondents are budgeting more than $200 for new electronics.

Results of Electronic Book and eReader Device Survey

Electronic book purchases were made by 18% of college students within the past three months.  This was up six percent from the previous study conducted in October 2010. Similar to before, nearly six out of ten (57%) stated that the primary purpose of their e-book purchase was a required course material for class. More than one-third of students (39%) purchased an e-book specifically for leisure reading. 

Approximately 64% of the students who said they recently purchased an e-book indicated that they used a laptop computer or Netbook to read their e-book.  This was down from 77% in October 2010.   The most significant change occurred for those that used an eReader device.  Around 39% of students said they used such a device, compared to only 19% of students five months ago.  Desktop computer was selected by only 24% of students, down from 30%. On the other hand, students that used a smartphone (e.g., iPhone, Blackberry) or a tablet (e.g., iPad) remained unchanged at 20% and 4% respectively.

Although recommendations from friends and the allure of eye-catching displays have a significant influence on your decision to try new products, college students are most persuaded to try new items by reasonable price, the product being on sale, and past experience with the brand. Free samples also help entice you.

About 40% of 18- to 24-year-old students say uniqueness of design plays a part in their decision to purchase a new product, vs. 33% of students 25 to 29, 29% of students 30 to 39, and just 21% of students 40 or older.

Celebrity endorsements have little to no influence on the college student population. In fact, only 5% of you say you're driven to try a new product just by the fact that a hip celebrity uses it.

Quality is significantly the top contributing factor to a product’s coolness. Even though quality is the top factor amongst all age groups, the importance of quality appears to increase as one ages. About 79% of 18-24 olds feel that quality is most important, and continues upward to approximately 90% of those 40+ adults finding it the most important contributing factor to the coolness of a product.

Interestingly enough, this is the only contributing factor that appears to increase with age. Majority of the factors tend to decrease as a contributing factor to coolness as age increases. Popularity amongst peers decreases the greatest as one ages, with 40% of 18-24 year olds viewing it as important, compared to 26% of 25-29 year olds, 15% of 30-39 year olds and 12% of 40+ adults.

In this study, students were asked to identify the factors they feel contribute most to the brand "coolness" of the products they typically buy.