English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

When attending predominately residential universities, commuter students are the minority and typically have poorer outcomes than residential peers. Research demonstrates commuter students identify factors impacting on their persistence and success, include time taken to commute, lack of social integration and a poor sense of belonging. In contrast, most students studying in UK college higher education are commuter students. They are already embedded in local communities, with their family and friends outside of university, and have a different sense of university belonging. Data collected during 13 online focus groups over six months explored college higher education commuter students’ sense of belonging and persistence. Reflexive thematic analysis identified that in contrast to the much-researched notion of belonging being important to students’ persistence, in this group of non-traditional commuter students, the notion of mattering was more important. Students spoke about how college higher education staff, particularly their personal tutors, demonstrated students mattered, and this feeling was reciprocated. Feeling like they mattered helped them to engage with learning and persist with their studies. This paper offers insight for higher education providers with high proportions of commuter students, and recommendations about how providers can foster mattering in their students to develop their persistence and success.

College higher education commuter students’ experiences of belonging, mattering and persisting with their studies