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Results of the Faculty Housing Survey

Lydia Snover

In November of 2001, 958 members of the MIT faculty (all tenure track faculty) were invited by the Office of the Provost to complete the HERI faculty survey. Every three years the UCLA Higher Educational Research Institute (HERI) administers a national survey of faculty. MIT has participated the past three cycles.

In addition to the base survey, MIT included a series of questions in 2001/2002 and 1998/1999 on the issue of faculty housing. This article will focus on the responses to those questions.

HERI received 359 surveys from MIT for a response rate of 37.5%. Of the respondents 70% were male and 21% female, 64% were full professors, 19% associate and 17% assistant professors. Of the total, 73% reported that they had tenure. The basic survey results can be accessed electronically at https://web.mit.edu/ir/spreadsheets/ (you must have an MIT certificate).

The survey asked a series of questions concerning the primary residence of MIT faculty members. About 86% of the faculty own their homes. 66% of the faculty live in a single family home or town house, 15% in condominiums, 12% in apartments, and 6% in multi family homes. On this question, there were differences by tenure status with 96% of tenured faculty owning their residences and 54% of non-tenured faculty. 76% of tenured faculty live in single-family homes or residences while only 36% of non-tenured faculty do. There were smaller differences by gender with 87% of male faculty owning their homes compared to 81% of female faculty. In terms of type of residence, 69% of male faculty live in single-family homes or townhouses, while 55% of female faculty do.

Of the faculty responding to the survey, 45% of the total reported that they live in a town adjacent or close to MIT and 29% in the urban center. However, 43% of female faculty reported living in the urban center compared to 15% of the men. In terms of differences by tenure status, 37% of the non-tenured faculty say that they live in an urban center and 12% in a suburban area, while 26% of tenured faculty live in the suburbs and 25% live in the urban center.

A primary reason for including these questions on the survey was to better understand what effect, if any, housing options might have on an individual's decision to come to MIT. Of the respondents, 62% said that the availability of housing on campus would have had no effect on their decision to come to MIT. Although there was no real difference by gender on this question, there was a difference by tenure status, with 23% of non-tenured faculty responding that it would have made the decision easier, versus 9% of the tenured faculty. Likewise, the availability of affordable housing near campus would have made the decision of 36% of the non-tenured faculty easier compared to 21% of the tenured faculty. Again, there were minor differences by gender.

We also asked a series of questions concerning views of the faculty about housing issues. Members of the faculty, in general, think that living close to campus makes the life of junior faculty easier. Women and non-tenured faculty felt more strongly about this than tenured faculty and male faculty. Almost 70% felt that having faculty live on campus will improve the campus community and almost 65% felt that living on campus would help faculty understand student needs. Only 21% of the faculty felt that faculty housing on campus would not improve their department's recruiting efforts although 60% agreed that peer institutions have faculty housing programs and MIT needs to keep up to be competitive.

When asked what other issues were more important than housing, 55% of the respondents chose competitive faculty salaries, 26% chose resources to support research, and 12% indicated graduate student support.

In 1998, the faculty survey contained five questions that focused on aspects of on-campus housing. At that time, 15% of the faculty said they might participate if MIT built on-campus housing now and 13% said they might in the future. About 30% said they were not interested. About 59% of the faculty preferred detached or attached single-family structures and 23% preferred apartment style housing. Only 7% of the faculty would consider a faculty and staff or faculty and student complex on campus, although almost 38% would consider a similar complex adjacent to campus. When asked what factors might motivate them to participate in an MIT faculty-housing program, 25% chose the ease of commuting to campus and 17% a desire to participate in Cambridge/Boston activities.

In the fall of 2001, the Council on Work and Family also surveyed the faculty about issues related to their quality of life at MIT. The Office of the Provost was asked to do an analysis on one of the opened ended questions, where members of the faculty were asked to suggest ways of improving their quality of life. Twenty-six members of the faculty mentioned housing issues in their responses. These comments included "Temporary residences for new faculty (one year);" "more decent, affordable housing nearby;" "support in house finding and financing;" "more financial help with Boston-area housing;" and "the Institute needs to do more to help junior faculty afford housing in the greater Boston area."

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