Graduation Year
2025
Graduation Month
May
Document Type
Professional Paper
Faculty Mentor Department
Faculty at the Mansfield Library
Faculty Mentor
Erin Baucom
Keywords
Housing crisis, student, mental health, housing market, well-being, wellbeing
Abstract
This research project examined how rental housing challenges in Missoula, Montana, impacts the well-being of students at the University of Montana and Missoula College. With rising rent prices and limited affordable housing options, students face growing stress related to finances, housing stability, and academic life. To explore this, we created a survey asking students about their living situations, financial pressures, social support, and mental health. We calculated a Well-being Score based on housing stress, social support, and future confidence to identify the biggest factors affecting student well-being.
Despite facing challenges in distributing the survey and gathering responses, the results revealed important trends. Overall, students with greater financial stability, full-time students, and women tended to report higher average well-being. These results informed our creation of a user-friendly website that provides personalized housing recommendations based on our findings. We believe this data will be valuable to future partners who continue the project, helping ensure that students, both locally and globally, have access to resources that improve their understanding of the housing market and support their well-being.
Honors College Research Project
1
GLI Capstone Project
yes
Recommended Citation
Curry, Alysa; Rasmussen, Aidan; Witt, Halston; Clifford, Tristan; and Arnold, Sadie, "Capstone Research on Missoula, Montana, Rental Market Impact on Undergraduate Students’ Well-Being" (2025). Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts. 551.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/utpp/551
© Copyright 2025 Alysa Curry, Aidan Rasmussen, Halston Witt, Tristan Clifford, and Sadie Arnold