Using a roommate preference survey for students living on an engineering dorm floor

Arizona State University is primarily a commuter school and many of its students work. These factors contribute to a serious problem of retention for the University and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In an effort to increase retention rates and to improve student life, three years ago an engineering dorm floor was designated and advertised to incoming engineering students. During the first two years only a small number of engineering students were attracted to this style of living. Roommate assignments were done by chance. Last year in an effort to improve the process, an interest and preference survey was developed for potential dormitory residents in an effort to increase the quality of roommate pairing. An unexpected result of the use of the survey was that three times as many students requested clustered engineering housing and completed the survey. The roommate survey is described and anecdotes from students given. Some results of a survey of the student satisfaction with the engineering cluster housing program are also presented. Minor changes to the survey are discussed and difficulties with the process and their solution are also addressed.