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Synthesizes analysis of 40+ articles and books to address how amenities are defined, how they are measured and what trends appear, what rationales and consequences are claimed, and which questions remain unanswered. Findings provide a working definition and highlight major knowledge gaps, limiting support for an “amenities arms race” and guiding future inquiry.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/examining-the-amenities-arms-race-in-higher-education-shifting-from-rhetoric-to-research/599109/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/examining-the-amenities-arms-race-in-higher-education-shifting-from-rhetoric-to-research/599109.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"kopisore","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main goal of the article?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"To analyze published writing on amenities in higher education and bring order to the large volume of information while advancing research.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What questions does the analysis address?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It examines four interrelated questions: how amenities are defined, how they are measured and what trends are discernible, what rationales and consequences are proposed, and what questions remain unanswered.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What do the findings suggest about evidence for an “amenities arms race”?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The analysis identifies significant shortcomings in existing knowledge, making it difficult to substantiate broad claims that colleges and universities are engaged in an “amenities arms race.”","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},599109,1792191286,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962090880963,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","EXAMINING THE “AMENITIES ARMS RACE” IN HIGHER EDUCATION: SHIFTING FROM RHETORIC TO RESEARCH  \nKevin McClure  \nUniversity of North Carolina-Wilmington  \nThis article provides an analysis of published writing on amenities in higher education with the goal of bringing order to the voluminous information and helping to advance research. It examines over 40 articles and books to answer four interrelated questions: 1) How are amenities defined in the context of higher education? 2) How are amenities measured and what trends are discernible? 3) What are rationales and possible consequences of amenities? and 4) What questions remain unanswered and merit researchers’attention? Findings of the analysis provide a working definition of amenities in higher education and reveal significant shortcomings in our knowledge of the topic. These shortcomings make it difficult to substantiate claims that colleges and universities are engaged in an “amenities arms race” and identify numerous areas for future research.  \nPlease direct inquires about this manuscript to: Kevin McClure, [mcclurek@uncw.edu](mcclurek@uncw.edu)  \nCollege Student Affairs Journal, Volume 37(2), pp. 129-143 ISSN 2381-2338  \nCopyright 2019 Southern Association for College Student Affairs All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.  \n130 College Student Affairs Journal Vol. 37, No. 2, 2019  \nPopular media articles on amenities in  \nhigher education take a common form.  \nEmblazoned across the top of the articles are often provocative headlines. As one headline declares: “Prepare to Be Shocked (and Jealous!) at the Way College Students Live Today”(McCarthy, 2015) . Many of the articles begin by describing a series of services and/or facilities, such as a roaming icecream truck or 25-person hot tub (Hoeller, 2014; Jaeger, 2015) . The authors subsequently hook readers with a shocking revelation: these amenities are not located on cruise ships or all-inclusive resorts, but rather campuses of U.S. colleges and universities. Almost invariably, the growth of amenities is attributed to the intense competition to attract students—a competition referred to as the “amenities arms race”(e.g., Blumenstyk, 2015; Jaeger, 2015; Selingo, 2013) . Just as often, this competition is blamed for increasing college costs, which in turn drive up tuition and fees and exacerbate student loan debt (Jaeger, 2015; Newlon, 2014, Schwedel, 2014) . Peppered throughout are salacious images like winding lazy rivers with ambient lighting and bikini-clad college women floating on inner tubes.  \nOver twenty popular media articles following this script have been published since 2012. This suggests that there is an audience willing to scroll through these articles, including prospective college students considering their options, concerned parents calculating tuition payments, and outraged observers asking if higher education has misplaced its priorities. However, the quantity of articles does not mean our understanding of amenities—their origins, manifestations, and consequences—has progressed overtime. Upon close inspection, it becomes clear that many articles are artifacts of recycling more than original reporting. Similar examples of amenities at the same colleges and universities are mentioned ad naseum. Little, if any, evidence is presented and virtually no research is cited to support claims, which makes it challenging to substantiate  \nwidespread claims of an amenities arms race. In defense of journalists, research on amenities in higher education is scarce. For this reason, many of the articles reference a single study about the relationship between students’ consumer preferences and demand for higher education (Jacob, McCall,& Stange, 2013) . In short, writing on amenities in higher education, though abundant and often compelling, is more rhetorical than research-based.  \nThe purpose of this article is to provide an analysis of published writing on amenities in higher education with the goal of bringin","cbCaidLJAZ38I0aV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidLJAZ38I0aV","pdf",263992,15,"English","# Background and problem\n## Popular media narratives and rhetorical patterns\n# Research purpose and questions\n## Definitions of amenities\n## Measurement and discernible trends\n## Rationales and consequences\n## Unanswered questions\n# Significance and research implications","[{\"question\":\"What is the main goal of the article?\",\"answer\":\"To analyze published writing on amenities in higher education and bring order to the large volume of information while advancing research.\"},{\"question\":\"What questions does the analysis address?\",\"answer\":\"It examines four interrelated questions: how amenities are defined, how they are measured and what trends are discernible, what rationales and consequences are proposed, and what questions remain unanswered.\"},{\"question\":\"What do the findings suggest about evidence for an “amenities arms race”?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis identifies significant shortcomings in existing knowledge, making it difficult to substantiate broad claims that colleges and universities are engaged in an “amenities arms race.”\"}]","EXAMINING THE “AMENITIES ARMS RACE” IN HIGHER EDUCATION: SHIFTING FROM RHETORIC TO RESEARCH | PDF",1792088189,38]