The topic that I chose to look at for my research paper is student living and how stressors in an average college students’ life effects their choice of residency. My friends and I have been looking at numerous apartment complexes located near Florida State University so that when the time comes, we will be able to sign a lease and all live in the same community together. When Mat told our class that we were going to be doing a paper on a community we were interested in joining during our time at Florida State, the idea of researching apartment complexes came directly to me. Every person will need to look for a place to live at one point or another in their life, so by researching these communities it wouldn’t solely be benefitting myself and my friends, but the entire FSU community. At first, I wasn’t sure what approach I should take to this topic since many complexes wouldn’t be open to sharing the flaws of their area since they only want people to see the virtuous. After talking to Mat, he helped me broaden my topic so that I would not run into these issues with the companies. By looking at my topic from a bigger perspective, I decided to research different environmental factors and typical college stressors that all impact where a student decides to live.
I have already interviewed the general manager at the Republic Tallahassee location, along with a student employee, and a student resident who already lives inside the community. After our interview was over, I was able to get different perspectives of what it is like to live here, and how involved the community is. I was also able to ask some of the members about why they chose this complex over other ones they looked at and how their diet, social life, and financial abilities correspondingly played a role in this selection. Through my research, I found many sources that pointed out these specific stressors and how they impact a typical college students’ life. I also found multiple sources on privatization, that showed how multiple colleges are revolving to private foundations and corporations financing, construction, and management needs which also has a huge impact on ideal living spaces. The text that I plan on analyzing is the interview I conducted between the manger, employee, and resident because this is the best way to share all the information I have gathered. I also want to go in depth on the tour I took at the complex and how it might affect someone’s decision.