Impact of Campus Recreation on Student Success at a Small, Private Institution

Institutions of higher education are seeing a decline in enrollment and state funding. These matters are compounded by a smaller number of graduating high school seniors than years past (Pell Institute, 2022). Considering that it costs more to recruit new students compared to retaining current students, colleges and universities are focusing on effective retention strategies (Pell Institute, 2022). Meanwhile, Misener (2019), Battjes (2019), and Zegre (2019) have found a correlation between campus recreation utilization and student success at NCAA Division 1 schools. Each of these schools enrolls more than 25,000 students. Their work is built on Tinto’s (1975, 1993) Theory of Student Departure and Astin’s (1999) Theory of Involvement. This study seeks to determine if campus recreation participation (both facility usage and intramural participation) contributes to student success at a small, rural college consistent with the findings of much larger, public institutions in terms of both semester-to-semester retention and student semester grade point average (GPA). Campus recreation participation stands to emerge as an effective tool to increase student success in these terms via the pathways of Tinto’s (1975, 1993) and Astin’s (1999) works. Effective campus leadership is required to shift student success paradigms toward new and unconventional strategies such as campus recreation. New approaches to designing and delivering campus recreation opportunities will also be required to intentionally utilize these opportunities through the lens of student involvement.