Student Satisfaction Overview

Student satisfaction questions are included in a number of student and alumni surveys. The COFHE survey of graduating seniors includes ratings of satisfaction in over 50 different areas and the results are included in Northwestern’s Benchmark Report for the Board of Trustees. The survey is offered every year, but COFHE only expects and obtains 100% participation every five years -- most recently in 2006, and 2002. Northwestern has participated every year from 2002 to 2006 and in 2008 and 2009. The response rate has been fairly stable in recent years and in 2009 itwas 47%. In 2007, Northwestern included the satisfaction questions in the COFHE Enrolled Student Survey, which allowed us to compare satisfaction between class years, but not with peers.

In 2009, approximately 86% of Northwestern seniors reported that they were either “very” or “generally” satisfied with their undergraduate education, up from78% in 2002. Responses to the two overall satisfaction and recommendation questions “Overall, how satisfied have you been with your undergraduate education?” and “Would you encourage a high school senior who resembles you when you were a high school senior to attend your college?” utilize a 5-point scale while all other survey questions use a 4-point scale. For comparison with peers, the other 55 questions are grouped into six areas: Academic Advising, Diversity, Academics, Facilities, Campus Services, and Campus Life. The details on the questions included in each area and their mean scores are in Table 1.

The most dramatic improvements in Northwestern’s rank among COFHE universities between 2002 and 2006 were in Academic Advising, Diversity, Overall Satisfaction and Encouraging a High School Student to Attend. Northwestern is below the median in Services and Campus Life.Northwestern had the second highest improvement in overall satisfaction within the COFHEUniversities and the third highest for the Encourage question. The correlation between the Overall Satisfaction and Encourage questions is not as high as one might expect at .56. The correlations with the satisfaction variables are shown in Table 1 and with other variables in the survey in Table 2. At the top of the second list are questions about satisfaction in the major. Overall Satisfaction tends to be more closely related to academic items, while the Encourage question is correlated more highly with campus life variables.

Peer comparison by rankare only shown for 2002 and 2006 because all COFHE universities participated in those years. Changes in satisfaction for Northwestern as a whole between 2006 and 2009 were fairly minimal except for increased satisfaction with campus security and police and career counseling. There were decreases in overall satisfaction for McCormick students and in African-American student ratings on whether they would encouragehigh school students to attend. There was an increase in the satisfaction of Hispanic students with the climate for minority students on campus (see Table 3). Students were more satisfied with academic advising before declaring a major for SoC, Medill, and SESP. There was a decrease in this area for the Bienen School of Music, but they are still the most highly rated school for this question. The 2010 senior survey will help us determine whether these are longer term trends and to compare the most recent data with the full set of peer institutions.

Other demographics also have an impact on satisfaction. Women are slightly more satisfied than men and fraternity/sorority members are more likely to encourage a high school student to attend. There are no significant differences in the overall satisfaction questions in 2009 for students who were admitted early decision or as transfers as compared to students admitted regular decision. More modeling can be done to look at other demographics or other variables of interest to SSPG members.

Questions for Discussion: Most of the undergraduate schools made changes in their advising programs that resulted in increased satisfaction in that area. Are there any initiatives underway in other areas?

What projects should be the highest priorities for increasing satisfaction?

How could the planning process address some of the issues?

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