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Student satisfaction data: Overcoming barriers and facilitating use

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Ruffalo Noel Levitz recently hosted a webinar, Student Satisfaction Data: Overcoming Barriers and Facilitating Use.  The webinar featured speakers from three institutions sharing their experiences:

  • Heather Chapman, Director of Academic Analytics at Weber State University (Utah)
  • Chris Confer, Assistant Provost and Dean of Students at Anderson University (Indiana)
  • Cammie Pollastro, Assessment Coordinator at Western Wyoming Community College.

If you missed this hour-long session, you can listen to the recording.  I also want to share a few highlights from these presentations with you:

Why assess student satisfaction? Three reasons from campuses

Heather Chapman indicated that Weber State administers the RNL Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) because it is a good fit for their demographic, they have found it relatively easy to convert the data into action, it is a comprehensive survey instrument, and the results are easy for faculty and staff to digest.

Chris Confer shared that they were looking for tools to help them with improving retention at Anderson University.  They wanted data to support or refute anecdotal evidence, and also were looking for ways to understand and improve the value of the university in the face of rising tuition.  They also appreciated that the SSI offers external national benchmark for comparison purposes.

Cammie Pollastro said that the decision to use the SSI was made several years ago by her predecessors at Western Wyoming Community College, but the current team has continued to use the instrument because it gives them an important perspective on their students’ perceptions, helps them to understand which campus services are most important,  and identifies current satisfaction levels.

How do campuses share their college student satisfaction data?

Sharing the data widely on campus is an important step to be sure the campus at large is aware of the student perceptions.  The three campuses provided examples of how they have shared the results on campus, including:

  • Presentations to the Student Affairs Division and the Academic Affairs Division
  • Working sessions with the Student Government Association to partner on initiatives
  • A chapel presentation dedicated to talking about the result and the subsequent improvements
  • Incorporating the data into a Measures Table which is used by the Building Student Connections team for evaluation and to inform the areas of concern for targeted action

What are some examples of initiatives and responses?

Taking action with the data to make improvements on campus is the key to improving student satisfaction.  Typically campuses are looking for opportunities to change policies, procedures, or student perceptions in ways that may be easy to implement immediately as well as initiatives that may require additional time and resources.  The three campus presenters above shared these activities that they have been able to implement:

  • Reducing campus run-around through campuswide initiatives to reduce the number of people a student must interact with to complete a task
  • Better lighting in the parking lots and cameras as residence hall entrances to improve safety and security
  • Campaign on campus to address the value proposition of the University to shift perceptions on tuition being worthwhile
  • Establishment of a Student Persistence and Success Academy to provide additional academic support to students
  • Improved course scheduling in response to concerns on the ability to register for classes with few conflicts

[Read more…]

Getting it done: Turning college student satisfaction data into action

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How can you make greatest impact with your college student satisfaction data?

“What gets measured, gets done” is a famous quote attributed to Edwards Deming.  I interpret this quote to mean if you are measuring something, you are in a better position to respond to that data to make improvements.  It is a philosophy that I have shared with colleges and universities when making the case for conducting student satisfaction assessment.

However, I recognize that responding to college student satisfaction data to make improvements to the student experience—to actually “get it done”—can be challenging with the competing priorities on a college campus.  Having guidelines and real-life examples can support efforts on individual campuses.

There are three key steps to follow after assessing student satisfaction on your campus:

1.    Explore your college student satisfaction data more deeply

The results from the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) identify top strengths and challenges for the institution, but what do the individual items really mean to your students?  Exploring the data by looking at demographic subsets of the data can provide a clearer picture of where an item is more or less of an issue.  Priority demographic groups include:

  • class level
  • full-time/part-time enrollment
  • student indicated majors/programs.

Is access to classes more critical to full-time students or to part-time ones?  Are students more concerned with faculty proving timely feedback in business programs or nursing majors? Understanding these perspectives will help you to target your responses accordingly.

Another way to further explore the items is to conduct focus groups with students to talk with them about what they have experienced and what they suggest for improvements.  You may find that the identified issue is much easier to resolve than you initially realized.  Through focus group discussions, one campus discovered that the way students wanted the school to respond to the issue “Tuition paid is a worthwhile investment”—a big issue on the SSI—was to keep the printers stocked with paper and working correctly so they could print their syllabus and supporting material as expected. Many issues will not be that easy to solve, but it pays to investigate.

2.    Respond with new initiatives to directly address student satisfaction issues

Once your college student satisfaction data provide a better idea what is at the heart of the issues that students have identified as priorities, it is important to make actual changes on campus.  These changes may include new policies or procedures but they can also be activities to change student perceptions.  Are there improvements that can be done immediately and easily, like extending hours for the business office or adding financial aid counseling triage services during peak times?  Some items may require additional resources, so they may need to be added to your longer-term strategic plan. This may include such things as adding courses in high-demand areas or adding advising staff.

Keep in mind that student perceptions also play a significant role in student satisfaction, so look for opportunities to change perceptions with the information you are providing.  This may mean improving information on financial aid steps or informing students that you have plenty of parking spaces, they just need to allow 15 minutes to find a spot and get to class!  Taking a good look at the information you provide to students throughout their experience can help you to identify cost-effective opportunities to change perceptions, and ultimately satisfaction levels.

3.      Inform the students of the actions taken

Too often, campuses assume that students are aware of the changes that have been made and why.  However, I encourage you to be intentional in your communications with students.  When you make a change based on your college student satisfaction data, tell the students: “You said this, and we did that in response, because we care about your experience.”  Connect the dots for them so they know that you are paying attention and that their responses to the satisfaction survey matter because they are guiding decision making on campus.

These communications can be simple statements on posters around campus, done via social media, or short announcements in class.  Closing the feedback loop is in important step, especially before you survey students again.  If you are taking actions behind closed doors, and students are not made aware of the changes, you are unlikely to see satisfaction scores go up on your next satisfaction assessment.

Three opportunities to turn your college student satisfaction data into action

Are you looking for more ideas and opportunities to get real-world examples of what is working with using student satisfaction assessment data to “get things done?”  I invite you to consider three opportunities to learn more:

I also have discussed specific examples for acting on your college student satisfaction data in a previous blog.

Student satisfaction has been linked to higher student retention and institutional graduation rates, but the difference between institutions that are seeing satisfaction levels improve and those that remain stagnant are the ones that are “getting it done” with exploring, responding, and informing students.  I encourage you to learn from others on the best ways to do this and to identify will work on your campus.

Please contact me if I can answer any questions in this area.

New nationwide college student satisfaction report shows areas where college students feel their experiences could be improved

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Our new college student satisfaction report—the  2017 National Student Satisfaction and Priorities Report—shows what colleges students identified as their top priorities for improvement.

This report contains data from the Ruffalo Noel Levitz satisfaction and priorities surveys, which institutions use to help prioritize institutional changes. In turn, RNL regularly reports the collective findings from across the nation to identify trends in college student satisfaction. Here are some of the findings from this year’s college student satisfaction report.

Students’ calls for improvements—a sampling

  • Across higher education, students are concerned about their ability to register for the classes they need without conflicts.
  • At four-year private institutions, students prioritized their concerns about the availability of financial aid and their perception that tuition may not be a worthwhile investment.
  • Students at four-year public institutions indicated concerns with their perception that faculty may not be fair and unbiased in their treatment of individual students.
  • At community colleges, students were concerned about academic advisors’ knowledge and the timeliness of faculty feedback.
  • Students at career and private schools placed a priority on the equipment in the lab facilities being kept up to date.
  • Adult learners indicated concerns with receiving timely feedback and avoiding the campus “run-around.”
  • Online learners identified concerns with their perception of the quality of online instruction and their perception that student assignments may not be defined clearly enough.

These are just a sampling of the issues identified by more than 600,000 traditional and nontraditional students at 970 institutions across the country who completed the RNL Student Satisfaction Inventory™, the RNL Adult Student Priorities Survey™ or the RNL Priorities Survey for Online Learners™ over three academic years: 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17.

At a glance: How satisfied are today’s college students?

Overall, college student satisfaction for the following six data sets has remained steady in recent years, with nontraditional learners continuing to reflect higher overall satisfaction scores:

College student satisfaction report: How satisfied are today's students

As shown above, the majority of today’s college students are satisfied with their college experiences, but there is room for improvement.  To move the needle on student satisfaction, RNL recommends that institutions drill down into the specific survey items measured on the RNL surveys and to intentionally respond to identified challenges.

Gathering student satisfaction data and responding to student priorities are key ways to improve student success. Studies reflect a link between overall satisfaction scores and individual student retention at four-year institutions (Schreiner, 2009) and at community colleges (Miller, 2015). Institutions with higher student satisfaction also have higher institutional graduation rates (Bryant and Bodfish, 2014).  In addition to supporting retention efforts, the satisfaction data provide the student voice in strategic planning activities, document institutional improvements for accreditation purposes, and identify positive experiences for recruitment messaging.

Do you know how satisfied your students are? I encourage you to assess student satisfaction on your campus regularly, and to compare your students’ perceptions with national data on student satisfaction and priorities for your institution type.

Download the full college student satisfaction report to see all the areas of high and low satisfaction

Download the 2017 National Student Satisfaction and Priorities Report to see all of the top challenges identified by students as well as the student-identified strengths for each institution type, highlighting what is working on college campuses.

Call 800.876.1117 or email me to learn more about RNL Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys or the 2017 college student satisfaction report. I will be happy to discuss how campuses are using satisfaction data to make positive changes that matter to their students.

2017 College Student Satisfaction Report

How graduation ceremonies can motivate students to complete college and give back

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My daughter, Kylie, graduated from a private, liberal arts college in Iowa this spring. I experienced her graduation ceremony both as a proud parent and as a higher education professional, observing what the college did right in celebrating the class of 2017.

You may have been following along on my parental observations over the past five years as Kylie visited potential colleges, went through orientation and arrived on campus, reflected on her freshman and sophomore years, and began her senior year.

Since I manage the Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys for Ruffalo Noel Levitz, the keynote speaker at my daughter’s graduation ceremony was definitely speaking my language when he told students he hoped they were satisfied with their experience! (Yes, he really said that, and my ears perked up!) As they left the college, he wanted them to feel that their investment of time and tuition had been worthwhile.  (I would definitely echo that from the national data perspective, and further point out that a 2015 study indicated that institutions with higher satisfaction levels also have higher alumni giving). But the speaker also said he hoped the students were dissatisfied enough with the world around them that they would want to find what they were passionate about and make a change in something that matters. (This fits with how I advise institutions to improve the college experience for students in areas that matter: areas with high importance and low satisfaction to the student body).

What did they celebrate during the graduation ceremony?

A few observations on how the speakers motivated the audience toward college completion and giving back to the college:

  • The president acknowledged first-generation students and their families for blazing the trail and persevering. She also had legacy students stand and be recognized. There was one student who was a fifth-generation legacy, along with several who were fourth- and third-generation students. I was impressed with the strong family commitments to the college, but can you imagine the expectations those students felt to continue the family tradition?
  • The college’s young alumni award was presented during the graduation ceremony. (My alma mater presents it during homecoming.) By acknowledging the young alumni during graduation, it encouraged today’s graduates—and their younger peers in the audience—to see what they can accomplish within ten years after graduation. These young alumni stories were an inspiration and a validation of what can be done with a degree from the college.
  • As part of the Senior Giving Campaign, students who pledged to give back to the college were given a cord to wear with their cap and gown as a visible acknowledgment of their commitment. Kylie commented that she heard several classmates signed up because they wanted some “bling” for the gown, and the Senior Giving commitment was up 10% to 60% with this first year of the graduation cord offer.

Are you implementing acknowledgments like these during your graduation ceremony? Are there additional ways you can motivate students toward completion and celebrate students who blazed a trail or continued a legacy? How else can you reinforce the value of the tuition to the students and their families so they will continue to feel positive about your college? And what is going to motivate your new alumni to stay engaged with your institution as they move on to the next phase of their lives? [Read more…]

Using college student satisfaction data to take action to improve: Examples from campuses

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I recently heard someone say, “Schools don’t lack for data. However, they often lack the ability to take action with their data.” Do you agree? As you gather student feedback data on your campus, I encourage you to look for survey tools that are going to give you data that is prioritized and actionable.

Student satisfaction surveys from Ruffalo Noel Levitz are one example of an actionable survey tool. These surveys gather student perceptions of the current experience at your institution and prioritize the findings. Many institutions assess student satisfaction on a regular basis with these tools. College student satisfaction data can serve as the “student voice” for informed decision making for student success efforts (i.e. retention improvements), strategic planning, and accreditation purposes.

Prioritization drives action

The college student satisfaction data from the RNL Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) are prioritized based on two types of scores students assign to each survey item:

– importance scores (a level of expectation)
– satisfaction scores (student perceptions of their current experience)

The survey uncovers priority items for improvement by identifying areas where students express a high level of importance along with a low level of satisfaction, based on national norms. Survey items measured in this way are actionable by changing institutional policies and procedures, immediately or in the near future, and by adjusting student perceptions.

To take action, you also need the following:

  • Supportive leadership
  • Budget dollars (but there are things that can be done with a small investment)
  • Individuals who will take responsibility for new initiatives
  • Additional direction from students–through focus groups or other qualitative methods–to be sure you fully understand what the item on the survey means on your campus.

Examples from campuses putting college student satisfaction data to work

[Read more…]

“The accreditors are coming!” 4 ways to use student satisfaction scores to prepare

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Does your campus fully utilize its student satisfaction scores at accreditation time? As a reminder, regular assessments of student satisfaction provide data for four key institutional activities:

• Retention/student success
• Strategic planning
• Recruiting new students
• Accreditation documentation

The accreditation process can be time-demanding and stressful for your campus staff and leadership, yet is essential to complete and pass. And while the official process is something you address once every decade, regularly gathering data from your students and maintaining proactive processes can make the actual, official requirements go much more smoothly.

My colleague Charles Schroeder likes to say that during self-studies, people on campus begin running around gathering data and shouting, “The accreditors are coming! The accreditors are coming!” To avoid this reaction, our recommendation is don’t just assess student satisfaction as part of your self-study, but assess student satisfaction on a regular cycle, once every two or three years (if not annually).

4 ways to use student satisfaction scores to prepare for accreditors

How can you use data from student satisfaction surveys in your accreditation process? I have four suggestions for you.

1. Match the survey items to your accreditation requirements. As a resource for you, we have mapped the individual items on the Ruffalo Noel Levitz (RNL) Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys (including the Student Satisfaction Inventory, the Adult Student Priorities Survey, the Adult Learner Inventory and the Priorities Survey for Online Learners) to the individual criteria for all of the regional accreditors across the United States. You can download the relevant mapping document for your survey version and region here. This takes the guesswork out of determining how the student feedback lines up with the documentation you need to provide. You can also see how the items are mapped to your regional accrediting agency.

2. Respond to student-identified challenge items. The RNL Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys identify areas of high importance and low satisfaction as challenge items. These are priority areas for improvement based on the perceptions of your students. By actively working to improve the student experience in these areas, you can potentially improve overall student satisfaction, which studies have correlated with better student retention, higher institutional graduation rates, higher alumni giving, and lower loan default rates. Improvements in these areas are going to look good for your accreditation.

3. Document your student-identified strengths. The RNL Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys also reflect student-identified strengths, which are items of high importance and high satisfaction. These are the areas that your students care about, and where they think you are doing a good job. Mentioning your strengths to your accreditors helps to position you in a positive light and to focus the conversation on where you are meeting or exceeding student expectations.
[Read more…]

Student success today – why it’s important to “sweat the small stuff”

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Some of you may remember Richard Carlson’s late 1990’s advice, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” A copy of this motivational book is on my bookshelf. It reminds me not to let the minutiae of life get in the way of the big picture.

However, when it comes to the college experience of today’s students, you may want to reconsider this advice and start paying attention to the little aggravations and annoyances that your students are experiencing, because we have seen that these can indeed make an impact on students’ larger perceptions of your institution. Sometimes, small details truly do matter.

First, let’s look at the big picture.

Over the past 20-plus years, we have studied our National Student Satisfaction and Priorities Reports and consistently seen that a high priority area for improvement for students at four-year private and public institutions is: “Tuition paid is a worthwhile investment.”

How four-year college students rate the statement,
“Tuition paid is a worthwhile investment”

Students attending four-year private institutions Students attending four-year public institutions
Importance to me 88% 86%
My satisfaction level 45% 52%
Performance gap 43% 34%

Source: 2015-2016 National Student Satisfaction and Priorities Report, www.RuffaloNL.com/SatisfactionBenchmarks

The chart above reflects the percentage of students who indicate that this statement is important or very important to them as well as the percentage that say they are satisfied or very satisfied, as measured on our Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI). The performance gap is the difference between these two numbers. For your reference, in the range of scores at four-year privates, the tuition-is-worth-it statement is eighth in rank order of importance (out of 73 items), but with satisfaction scores that can get as high as 72 percent in the national data, you can see that there is definitely room for improvement here. Similarly, at four-year publics, this statement is again eighth in rank order of importance, and satisfaction scores can range up to 69 percent, so again, improvements can be made at four-year publics as well. (As a side note: Students at two-year community colleges, where tuition amounts are often much lower, score this item higher, with importance at 90 percent and satisfaction at 69 percent.)

So what can colleges and universities do to improve perceptions of student tuition being worthwhile?

When consulting with colleges about their satisfaction scores, I used to recommend that institutions respond to this issue by working to improve students’ perceptions of the value of their education. This included suggestions such as telling students more about job placement rates and other outcomes after graduation, like the success of college alumni. I still believe these are important messages, especially while you are recruiting new students. It is also a good idea to continue to emphasize these messages with enrolled students. But sometimes, if an individual student doesn’t inherently value what you have to offer, it can be difficult to truly change their perception in this area.
[Read more…]

Student satisfaction linked to lower loan default rates

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In a series of studies over the last few years, Ruffalo Noel Levitz has documented the link between student satisfaction and several key institutional metrics:

  • Retention: Student satisfaction is linked with HIGHER retention based on a 2009 study by Dr. Laurie Schreiner. Student satisfaction accounts for 17 percent of the variation in retention at four-year institutions. A 2015 study by Dr. Karen Miller also revealed a strong correlation between student satisfaction and retention at two-year community colleges.
  • Graduation Rates: A 2014 Ruffalo Noel Levitz study reported that overall institutional student satisfaction rates were tied to HIGHER institutional graduation rates in a linear relationship for four-year private institutions, community colleges, and career and private schools. Four-year public institutions also reflected a link that peaked with medium range graduation rates and then declined slightly with the highest graduation rates.
  • Alumni Giving: Four-year public and private institutional student satisfaction levels were HIGHER for institutions with greater alumni giving rates, based on a 2015 Ruffalo Noel Levitz study. Satisfaction with campus involvement and individual relationships had the strongest correlation with greater alumni giving levels.

[Read more…]

Adult learners: Take a look at their views on Life and Career Planning Issues

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Recent data released by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation indicate that adult learners―students who are 22 years of age or older in this case―make up 47 percent of the students currently enrolled in higher education. But what do we know about these students, how they perceive their educational experiences, and what they think are priorities for improvement?

The recently released 2015-16 National Adult Learners Satisfaction-Priorities Report provides an overview of the areas adult learners believe are important and their corresponding satisfaction levels with each area. The data are from 32,000 adult learners who completed the Adult Learner Inventory™ at 100 four-year and two-year institutions across the country between the fall of 2012 and the spring of 2015.

In general, adult learners show high levels of satisfaction, with 71 percent of adult learners at four-year institutions and 72 percent at community colleges indicating they are satisfied or very satisfied overall. Their likelihood to recommend their institution is even higher: 75 percent at four-year institutions and 78 percent at two-year institutions. While these figures are generally positive, they may not tell the whole story. There are still areas where higher education can be better serving adult learners in order to improve retention and help these students reach their educational goals.

How adult learners view Life and Career Planning Issues

The new national report identifies a variety of areas where institutions have room for improvement as well as areas where institutions are currently doing well. Let’s take a closer look at the Life and Career Planning cluster of items. This group of survey items assesses how well an institution addresses adult learners’ life and career goals at the onset of enrollment. The data from this cluster help an institution assess and align its capacities to help learners reach their goals.

The items in the Life and Career Planning cluster, shown below, have the largest performance gaps (the difference between the importance and satisfaction scores) for both four-year and two-year institutions, and the most room for improvement based on perceptions of adult learners:

Table 4: Life and Career Planning

Items of high importance and high satisfaction are considered strengths and are identified in green; items of high importance and low satisfaction or large performance gaps are highlighted in red and are considered challenges.
[Read more…]

College student satisfaction and academic advising: What do the national data tell us?

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The 2015-16 National Student Satisfaction and Priorities Report was released last week with its annual review of how satisfied students are and what areas are of top importance to them. This year’s report summarizes the findings of more than 578,000 students who completed the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) at 711 four-year private and public institutions, as well as community colleges and career schools across the country between the fall of 2012 and the spring of 2015.

As you may be aware, the SSI asks students to indicate both a level of importance and a level of satisfaction with a variety of institutional experiences. The combination of importance and satisfaction scores provides an opportunity to identify institutional strengths (items of high importance and high satisfaction) as well as institutional challenges (items of high importance and low satisfaction).

Four priority issues emerged for students in this year’s results:

  1. Many students at four-year institutions do not think tuition paid was a worthwhile investment.
  2. Students express significant dissatisfaction with the financial aid awarding process and tuition payment options.
  3. Academic advising is a challenge area for community colleges but an area of strength at four-year and career institutions.
  4. Campus climate items reflect a mix of strengths and challenges across institution types.

In the full report, you can see the results that led to these conclusions for all four institution types. Let’s take a closer look at the student perceptions of academic advising across the institutional types.

Academic advising and student satisfaction

Academic advising and student satisfaction

The scores in the table above reflect the percentage of students who indicated that the item was important or very important to them and whether they were satisfied or very satisfied in this area. The gap score is the importance score minus the satisfaction score. The scores in green reflect items of strength while the scores in red are challenge areas. The scores in grey indicate that the item was neither a strength nor a challenge. (Please note that the strengths and challenges are relative to the institution type. What may be a strength or a challenge for one institution type may not be a strength or challenge for another, even if the importance, satisfaction and gap scores are identical.)

What do these national results mean? Because advising matters so much to students on the national level, you may want to consider reviewing your own advising services to be sure they are student-centered and adequately supporting the needs of your students.

Campuses can review their academic advising services and make adjustments, such as:
[Read more…]


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