COLLEGE STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS

Nearly 6,000 students have completed the Cooperative Institute Research Project (CIRP) Freshman Survey at Eastern New Mexico University since 1986. Recently, the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California Los Angeles made available a companion piece to the CIRP survey - the College Student Survey (CSS). Eastern began administering the CSS in academic year 96-97; and in that year, 143 students volunteered to complete the survey. In addition to providing a snap shot of graduates' self-rating of their abilities, the CSS can also compare students' values, attitudes, and behaviors between freshman and graduating students. In this edition of the DATAWave, students' results on some of the CSS questions will be reported. Readers should be aware that this represents only part of the available CSS results and analysis. Additional questions can be made available to the campus community.

Of the 143 students who completed the CSS, 55% were women and 45% were men. When asked about their future educational plans, 41 (33% of valid responses) indicated they intended to pursue a master's degree, and 20, (16.3% of the valid responses) a doctorate.

Students were asked a number of questions on their academic experiences at Eastern. In the table below, Eastern results are compared to results of national, public, four year institutions. Results are reported as combined “frequently” or “occasionally” responses unless otherwise indicated.

*Results reported as “frequently” responses only.

It may not be surprising that 93.7% of the respondents indicated that they occasionally or frequently “felt bored in class,” but it is certainly encouraging to see that 99.3%, or all but one, responded, indicating that they occasionally or frequently discussed their courses with other students.

Where the previous section reviewed academic activities, the next section reviews a category described as college activities, and these are reported below. Note, for example, that more students got married (26.6%) than joined a fraternity (20.3%). More than half of our graduates indicated they worked while attending college, while nearly 40% indicating they worked full time. Smaller proportions indicated they were enrolled or attended ethnic studies or women's studies courses.

When asked if they would choose to enroll at this college again, the majority of students (65.8%) indicated that they would, while 27.2% indicated that they would not enroll again. Seven percent were undecided.

Students were asked to indicate their satisfaction with a number of academic areas.

When asked their overall satisfaction with the number of academic related areas on campus, students generally were satisfied or very satisfied. One interesting response was that 81.1% of graduates were satisfied with their overall college experience, and only 5.6% indicated they were dissatisfied. The latter result is interesting in comparison with the number of students who might choose to enroll elsewhere.

When asked to rate their ability in a number of areas, Eastern students generally rated themselves as above average. There are many more areas measured than reported here. The highlight is that Eastern students rate themselves high on cooperativeness and understanding of others.

When asked about their future careers, the largest number of response (N=33) was for education, followed by business executive, then psychologist. Several other responses were given.

Reported below are just a few of the activities for which students indicated their participation.

*Results reported as “frequently” responses only.

It's interesting to learn that over 73% of students occasionally or frequently felt depressed, and that more than 90% of students occasionally or frequently felt overwhelmed at one time during their academic experience. This could be an important point for all faculty, staff, and administration to remember as we endeavor to better serve students.

Graduates were also asked to self rate their amount of change in a number of areas. The percent of students indicating much stronger abilities and skills is shown below.

Students were also asked to report their future goals.

Students overall reported that it was much more important to raise a family than it was to become an authority in their field. Likewise, it was more important to raise a family than to be very well off financially. Over half of the graduates believed it was important to develop a philosophy of life, and over 70% believed it was important to help others.

Below is a table as students reported their political orientation. It is consistent for Eastern students to be more conservative than the national sample. In addition, it is somewhat interesting to note that only one student was described as far right, and one student as far left.

The CSS also asks a number of questions related to people's friendships and other relationships. These are partially reproduced below regarding the number of friends who are the same race, gender, or major course of study.

The table below describes the relationship with faculty. Given what is known about the relationship of faculty and student learning, these are important areas of consideration.

*Results reported as “frequently” responses only.

Over half of the graduates indicated that their professors occasionally or frequently provided encouragement for graduate school, work on research projects, advice about educational programs, were respectful, provided emotional support, wrote letters of recommendations, helped with bureaucratic red tape, assisted with study skills, gave honest feedback about their abilities, were intellectually stimulating and challenging, and provided opportunities to discuss homework.

Graduates were asked what they planned to be doing in the Fall of 1996. Some of their responses are shown below.

Not all the results of the CSS are reported here. Readers may obtain a list of all the questions which are asked on the CSS. Readers are further encouraged to consider what questions they would find useful or interesting. Departments may want to consider including these survey results in their outcomes assessment plans. I welcome the opportunity to discuss these results in greater detail.

Please feel free to email the Assessment Resource Office if you would like to discuss these results further.