UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ RESIDENTIAL PATTERN AND THEIR ACADEMIC COMMITMENT IN BENIN CITY

ABSTRACT

The study ascertained the relationship between university students’ residential patterns and their academic commitment in Benin City. The study raised seven research questions; two were answered directly and five were formulated and tested as hypotheses. The descriptive correlation research design was adopted for the purpose of investigation. A multistage sampling technique comprising of purposive, stratified, convenience and random sampling was used to select the 250 respondents (students) in the University of Benin for the study. A set of questionnaire items was administered to the students. The questionnaire contained demographic information of the respondents, components of dependent and independent variables under investigation and three point Likert-type rating scale. The instrument was validated by the researcher’s supervisor. Cronbach’s alpha reliability statistics was used to determine the coefficient and reliability. A value of 0.81 was obtained. The research questions were analyzed using a mid-point of 1.50 and an average mean of 2.57 while the hypotheses were tested with Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The findings revealed that the observable residential pattern of students was more of the off- campus residence while the level of academic commitment of individual student was high although the overall commitment of the students fell below average. The hypotheses tested revealed that there exist significant relationships between students’ residential patterns and their academic commitment though a very weak one. The findings also revealed that gender, socio- economic background, mode of entry and discipline had no significant influence on the academic commitment of students. It was there recommended that the university authority should organize seminars and orientation for students to keep them motivated and committed to their academics. Also, the school authority 10 should make the construction of students’ halls of residence within the campus a priority so that more students can stay on campus and have easy access to reading facilities and other utilities.