2013 STUDENT OPINION Survey Department of Institutional Research Table of Contents 2013 SUNY Student Opinion Survey Executive Summary ..................................... 1 I. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 2 II. The TC3 Sample ................................................................................................. 2 III. Analysis and Methodology ............................................................................... 3 IV. TC3 Results of the SUNY Student Opinion Survey ........................................ 3 V. Results of Campus Specific Questions ........................................................... 6 VI. Summary of Student Comments ...................................................................... 6 VII. The Comparison College Sample .................................................................... 7 VIII. Comparison Colleges: Findings ....................................................................... 8 IX. Official Fall 2012 Enrollment ......................................................................... 12 X. TC3 Historical Response: Means ................................................................... 13 Table 1 – The Academic Experience ......................................................................... 13 Table 2 – Academic Services & Facilities .................................................................. 14 Table 3 – Institutional Services & Environment ......................................................... 15 XI. TC3 Campus-Specific Questions: Tables...................................................... 17 Table 4 – Campus Specific Questions ....................................................................... 17 XII. SUNY Comparison Data ................................................................................ 20 Table 5 – Number of Survey Forms Returned from Participating Colleges ............... 20 Table 6 – Survey Rate Information from Participating Colleges ................................ 22 Table 7 – Background Information from Participating Colleges ................................. 23 Table 8 – Section IV – Background Information Comparisons .................................. 24 Table 8.1 – Section IV-Time Spent on Activities ........................................................ 28 Table 9 – Section I – College Impressions & Plans Comparisons ............................. 30 Table 10 – Section II – Top & Bottom 10 Item Comparisons ..................................... 31 Table 10.1 – Section II – Largest Positive Difference Comparison ............................ 32 Table 10.2 – Section II – Largest Negative Difference Comparisons ........................ 32 Table 11 – Section III – Top & Bottom 10 Item Comparisons .................................... 33 Table 11.1 – Section III – Largest Positive Difference Comparisons ......................... 34 Table 11.2 – Section III – Largest Negative Difference Comparisons........................ 34 Table 11.3 – Section III – Top & Bottom 5 Items Comparisons ................................. 35 Table 11.4 – Section III – Agreement Statement Comparisons ................................. 35 Table 12 – Section III – College Services & Facilities Comparisons .......................... 36 Table 13 – Section III A – College Services & Facilities Comparisons for TC3 ......... 37 Table 13.1 – Section III A – College Services & Facilities Averages ......................... 38 Table 13.2 – Section III B – Comparisons and Rankings for TC3 .............................. 38 XIII. 2013 SUNY Student Opinion Survey Form ..................................................... 40 XIV. TC3 Additional Questions ............................................................................... 44 XV. List of Majors Codes ......................................................................................... 47 This report is based on the 2013 SUNY Student Opinion Survey, administered by Tompkins Cortland Community College during the 2013 spring semester, with 562 students responding. From the results: • Overall, most areas saw improvement or stayed the same in comparison with 2010. • There was notable improvement in academic advisement and course availability: there was increased satisfaction with “availability of courses at times you can take them” and “availability of courses you need for graduation.” With a mean of 3.85 (out of 5) this is the highest level of satisfaction ever recorded for “availability of courses at times you need for graduation” since TC3 has participated in the Student Opinion Survey. • Satisfaction with both the information provided by academic advisors as well as the availability of academic advisors also increased, (3.74 to 4.00 and 3.71 to 4.08 respectively) reflecting concerted efforts to improve advising at the College. • More respondents said they had “received feedback (written or oral) from instructors on the quality of (their) work.” At the same time, a higher percentage of respondents said they had “gone to class with their course readings and assignments completed.” This question has shown a consistent upward trend since it was first included ten years ago. • Study abroad opportunities seemed to stay off the radar: 46% of the respondents said they were not familiar with them, and 22% didn’t know. • Most respondents ultimately intend to earn at least a Bachelor’s degree, with 81% saying they expected to earn a 4 year or graduate degree. 1 2013 SUNY Student Opinion Survey I. Introduction The Student Opinion Survey has been administered by SUNY (State University of New York) campuses every three years since 1985, a total of 10 times. The Student Opinion Survey has changed somewhat each time is has been administered, including the development of a unique SUNY version of the survey. In 1985 and 1988, the ACT Student Opinion Survey was used for state-operated colleges and the ACT Student Opinion Survey (2-Year College Form) for community colleges. Although using the standard ACT instruments allowed SUNY the advantage of having national norms, it did not allow comparisons of certain items between SUNY institutions. SUNY participants decided that a unique SUNY instrument with additional and modified items was needed. The first edition of the SUNY Student Opinion Survey (SUNY SOS) was administered in 1991. The SOS collects background and attitude information from undergraduate students in the following areas: • College impressions and plans • Satisfaction with services, facilities, environment, and climate • Frequency of selected academic experiences • Extent of campus contributions to student growth and preparation • Aspirations and commitments The survey also included space for 17 campus-specific questions on a separate piece of paper included with the survey packet, and a question asking students to indicate their program of study. The complete survey questionnaire is included at the end of this report, as well as the survey insert with TC3-specific questions. II. The TC3 Sample Surveys were administered in 36 classes, making an effort at surveying courses representing a cross-section of subjects offered, upper and lower level courses, day and evening as well as main campus and extension center sections. A total of 562 students completed the survey, and an additional uncounted number in those courses declined to fill them out – either because they were under 18, had already completed the survey in another class or simply chose not to participate. 2 While the survey respondents were not a random sample of all potential courses or students, it was broadly representative of the student population as a whole, and the group ultimately surveyed did include most sub-groups within the student population. It is notable that almost all of the faculty members contacted about participation in the survey agreed to permit surveying in their sections. III. Analysis and Methodology The completed surveys were sent to ACT for scanning and tabulation, and then returned to TC3 for analysis. TC3 returned 562 completed surveys to ACT of which 528 were considered valid. Most survey questions were based on a five-part Likert scale, measuring satisfaction or agreement with a particular statement, where 5 indicates the highest degree of satisfaction or agreement, and 1 represents the lowest level. Once again a question was included in the middle of the survey to test whether or not students were randomly filling in answers: ”Please mark the ’NA’ oval for this question.” Surveys which had a “wrong” answer on this question were excluded from the analyses. IV. TC3 Results of the SUNY Student Opinion Survey The mean for each response is included in Tables 1-3. For comparison, the means for questions that have been asked over time are also included. Each year the survey is modified, some questions are added and others reworded or removed. Even when the survey items are identical in wording and format, student responses may have been affected by the different item order or by new item additions. Selected comments from respondents are included throughout this report, and a brief summary of comments is included in Section VI. A complete transcript of comments is available from TC3’s Institutional Research Department. 3 The following are selected highlights from TC3’s results and comments: The Academic Experience (Table 1) “I have (found) my overall experience at TC3 to be personally challenging but rewarding. I have a strong support