Abstract
M.A. (Sociology)
This study endeavours to understand how the reliance on off-campus student accommodation influences the experiences of first-generation low-income students as they adapt to university life at the Auckland Park Kingsway (APK) campus of the University of Johannesburg (UJ). There is little literature on off-campus accommodation, particularly in South Africa. On the other hand there is plenty of literature on first-generation students and students from low-income families, who in most cases are also first-generation students. However, what these studies have in common is that they draw on empirical work conducted in the global North and tend to exhibit a Eurocentric view. In addition, the voices of first-generation and/or low-income students is largely absent from the story telling. The experiences of these students are often related by experts, on their behalf. This dissertation addresses those shortcomings through the use of a narrative approach to data collection and analysis, which has afforded first-generation students from low-income families the platform to share their stories in the manner they would like them to be heard. The study also contributes an African account to the body of literature on off-campus accommodation. This qualitative study made use of in-depth face-to-face interviews with fourteen first-generation students from low-income families living in off-campus accommodation while studying at the Kingsway campus of the University of Johannesburg. Student narratives were also analysed thematically. The findings of this study indicate that first-generation low-income students lack preparation for university life, which affects their choices on student accommodation. Although off-campus accommodation presents students with financial and safety-related challenges, students prefer to stay off campus because of benefits such as freedom and independence. Experiences of off-campus accommodation, however, differ according to gender, as men and women identified different priorities and used different strategies to address their priorities. This study has therefore contributed to the body of literature on first-generation students and on student housing by presenting an in-depth account of the experiences of first-generation students from low-income families who are finding their way through the contemporary landscape of higher education in South Africa.