Graded Walks: How Students' Dorm Locations Affect Grade Performance

David Feldman, Adam D. Jutt () and Roswell Miller ()
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Adam D. Jutt: Economics Department, William & Mary
Roswell Miller: Economics Department, William & Mary

Working Papers from Economics Department, William & Mary

Abstract: We evaluate the impact of walking distance from dormitory to classroom on academic performance among first-year students at William & Mary. Leveraging a natural experiment created by the university's randomized dorm assignments, we analyze student-class level data from two cohorts (2016-17 and 2017-18). We find a statistically significant negative impact of distance, both for all classes and for the subset of "first classes of the day," as the distance measure may reflect actual travel more accurately for these classes. The effect is robust to student fixed effects and various class-level controls, and is particularly pronounced in large-enrollment and early morning classes. This is consistent with attendance-related frictions driving the effect. These findings support institutional policies that minimize first-year students' walking distance to class.

Keywords: distance; dorm; GPA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I21 I23 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2025-11-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-tre and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cwm:wpaper:174

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