| This study was designed to collect information about the process of assessing student satisfaction as it is done at the institutions in the second tier of the September 18, 1995 issue of U.S. News and World Report, otherwise known as "America's Best Colleges". Comprised of a cross-section of four-year higher education, this research pool included public and private institutions of varying sizes, from all regions of the country. This study was intended to help further define the relationship between college student retention and student satisfaction, based on earlier research by Astin, Stodt, et.al., which suggests a strong correlation. These data were collected by surveying the chief student affairs officer (CSAO) and chief academic officer (CAO) at each of the 65 institutions in this tier to explore the following: (1) is student satisfaction being assessed? (2) which student populations are being assessed? (3) how often are they being assessed? (4) through what mechanisms does this assessment occur? (5) who on campus orchestrates the assessment process? (6) how are results disseminated? (7) how are results utilized to increase satisfaction for future student cohorts?; Results of this study offered a clear answer to the question of whether institutions are interested in assessing student satisfaction, as an overwhelming 92.3% indicated doing so. While undergraduates are the student group most often assessed, graduate students were surveyed at approximately 24.3% of public institutions and approximately 15% of private institutions. Student satisfaction is most often assessed annually, while the most commonly employed survey methodology is written surveys, used at 94.7% of public and 100% of private institutions. Technological advances such as e-mail and Web sites have not been well-incorporated into the assessment process.; One conclusion based on the data collected involves the relationship between public vs. private status, institutional size and the involvement of the institutional research office in the assessment process. Specifically, it was noted that public institutions tend to be larger in size and also tend to have the institutional research office conduct the assessment. Other findings showed that public institutions were more likely to employ alternative survey methodologies (e.g., telephone surveying), were more likely to participate in this study, and were more open to sharing information about student satisfaction across campus.; In addition, anecdotal feedback from survey respondents revealed that institutions use data collected from student satisfaction assessments to effect policy and programming changes in a variety of ways, including revising policies, renovating spaces, changing hours of operation, etc. |
