1 Student Characteristics And Measurements of Student Satisfaction Prepared for: The Faculty Council...

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Student Characteristics And Measurements of Student Satisfaction

Prepared for: The Faculty Council Subcommittee on Retention

The Office of Institutional Research and Policy StudiesNovember 19, 2003

Kevin B. Murphy, Research Analyst

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This Presentation Will Report Data Collected From Three Main Sources

• The National Survey of Student Engagement Administered in Spring 2002 (NSSE 2002)– 270 UMB Respondents– Comparison Groups

• Urban Consortium• Aggregate of Other UMass Campuses• Other Doctoral Intensive Universities• National

• Retention Study of Fall 2000 First Time Full Time Freshmen (Retention 2001)– 209 Respondents

• Graduating Senior Satisfaction Survey of May 2003 (GSS 2003)– 1150 Respondents

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UMass Boston Students Differed from the NSSE Comparison Groups On a Number of Background Characteristics

• Age• Race/Ethnicity• Entrance Status• Foreign Citizenship• Family Income• Hours Worked Off Campus Weekly for Pay• Hours Spent Weekly Caring for Dependents• Part Time Attendance

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UMass Boston Students Are More Likely To Have Come Here From Other Colleges

Source: NSSE 2002

Percentage of Respondents Reporting That They Began College at a Different Institution

19%

4%

12%6% 7%

76%

39%

56%

45%39%

UMB UMass Urban Doc. Int. National

First YearStudents

Seniors

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UMass Boston Students Are Also More Likely To Have Come Here from Other Countries

Source: NSSE 2002

Percentage of Respondents Who Report Being International Students or Foreign Nationals

21%

7%5% 6% 5%

18%

6% 5% 5% 5%

UMB UMass Urban Doc_Int National

First Year Students

Seniors

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At UMass Boston, There Is Considerable Citizenship and Language Diversity Across All of the Larger Racial/Ethnic Groups

Source: GSS 2003 Applicant Data

Citizenship and Language Diversity for Permanent U.S. Residents by Racial/Ethnic Group

56%

36%

29%

25%

6%

27%

71%

37%

51%

38%

25%

37%

Asian P/ I BlackN/H

Hispanic Refused WhiteN/H

All

% Non-U.S.Citizens

% Speakinga LanguageOther ThanEnglish atHome

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At Least One of the Graduation Applicants in AY 2002-2003 Claimed Citizenship in Each of These Entities

Albania Czech Republic Israel PortugalAlgeria Dominica Jamaica RussiaAntigua and Barbuda Dominican Republic Japan St. Vincent and the GrenadinesArgentina Egypt Jordan Saudi ArabiaAustralia El Salvador Kazakhstan SeychellesBangladesh Ethiopia Kenya SingaporeBarbados France Korea, South SomaliaBelarus Georgia Latvia South AfricaBelize Germany Lebanon Sri LankaBosnia and Herzegovina Ghana Liberia SudanBrazil Greece Malawi SwedenBritish W. Indies Guatemala Malaysia SyriaBulgaria Guyana Mali TaiwanBurkina Faso Haiti Mexico ThailandCambodia Holy See Morocco TogoCameroon Honduras Nepal Trinidad and TobagoCanada Hong Kong Netherlands TurkeyCape Verde Iceland Nigeria UgandaChile India Pakistan UkraineChina Indonesia Peru United KingdomColombia Iran Philippines VenezuelaCongo Ireland Poland VietnamCosta Rica Yugoslavia

Source: GSS 2003

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They Also Reported Speaking These Languages At Home or with Family

Akan Creole Igbo SinhaleseAlbanian Croatian Indonesian SpanishAmbamic Czech Italian Swahili Amhain C Ewe Japanese SwahiriAmharic Fante Khmer TagalogArabic Farsi Kikuyu TamilArmenian Filipino Korean TelugoASL French Latvian TeluguBatorchu Ga Lebanese ThaiBengali German Luganda TibetanBenin Greek Malayalam Tigrina Bosnian Gujarati Mandarin TurkishBurmese Haitian Creole Moroccan Turkish Cambodian Hausa Nepali TwiCantonese Hebrew Pashto UrduCape Verdean Hindi Russian VietnameseChewa Ibo Serbian WelshChinese Icelandic Serbo Croatian Yoruba

Source: GSS 2003

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UMass Boston Students Reported Lower Levels Of Family Income than Did Their Colleagues at Other

Urban Institutions

Source: NSSE 2002

First Year Students' Best Estimates of Their Total Annual Income (Before Taxes) or the Combined Income of Their Parents if They Are

Listed as a Dependent on Their Parents' Taxes

23%

29%

22%20%

6%

1%

16%

21% 21%

12% 12%

18%

Less than$10,000

$10,000 to$24,999

$25,000 to$49,999

$50,000 to$74,999

$75,000 to$99,999

$100,000 orover

UMB

Urban

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UMass Boston Students Tend To Work More Hours Off Campus Each Week

Source: NSSE 2002

Percent of Respondents Who Reported Working More Than 20 Hours Per Week Off Campus for Pay

45%

12%

31%

17%13%

52%

24%

51%

38%

30%


First YearStudents

Seniors

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UMass Boston First Year Students Reported Higher Levels of Spending Time Caring for Dependents Than Did Any Of the Comparison Groups or UMass Boston Seniors

Source: NSSE 2002

Percentage of Respondents Who Reported Spending Some Time Each Week Caring for Dependents

54%

19%

39%

27%

22%

40%

26%

50%

39%

34%


First YearStudents

Seniors

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All of these time constraints and outside pressures

keep UMB students from engaging with the college

experience as much as they otherwise might.

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UMass Boston Students Are LessLikely to Attend School Full Time

Source: NSSE 2002

Percentage of Respondents Who Attend School Full Time

73%

98%

87%94% 95%

62%

93%

68%

79%83%


First YearStudents

Seniors

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UMass Boston First Year Students and Seniors Spend Much Less Time Working with other Students outside of Class Than Do Their Colleagues at the other Doctoral Intensives

Or in any other Comparison Group

Source: NSSE 2002

Percentage of Respondents Who Reported Working With Other Students Outside of Class To Prepare

Class Projects "Often" or "Very Often"

17%

31% 30%

38%41%43%

50% 49%

56% 56%


FirstYearStudents

Seniors

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UMB Students Reported Spending Fewer Hours Each Week Relaxing and Socializing

Percent of Respondents Who Reported Spending 10 or Fewer Hours Each Week Relaxing and Socializing

57%

39%

48%45% 46%

59%

49%

57%55% 54%


First YearStudents

Seniors

Source: NSSE 2002

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UMass Boston First Year Students and Seniors are More Likely To Have Never Worked with Faculty on outside Activities than Are Their

Colleagues at the other Doctoral Intensives

Source: NSSE 2002

Percentage of Respondents Who Reported "Never" Working with Faculty on Activities

Other than Coursework

74% 74% 74%

66%62%

66%

52%

64%

56%

47%


First YearStudents

Seniors

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UMass Boston First Year Students Were Also Significantly Less Likely to Have Talked with a Faculty Member about Career Plans

Percentage of First Year Students Who Reported That They "Never" Talked about Career Plans with a Faculty

Member or Advisor

40%

36%

30%

24% 23%

UMB UMass Urban Doc_Int National

Source: NSSE 2002

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Social Life and Recreational Opportunities

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Social Life, Recreational and Co-Curricular Opportunities, and Campus Events Ranked Very Low in the Recent Graduating Senior Satisfaction Survey, but Recreational etc. and Campus Events Showed Significant

Improvement over August 2002.

Source: GSS 2003

Mean General Satisfaction Ratings

3.1

4.0

4.0

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.7

4.9

5.0

5.1

5.1

5.3

5.3

5.3

5.7

Parking

Social Life on Campus

Appearance of the Campus

Recreational and Co-curricular Opps.

Campus Events and Activities

Acad. Adv. at the Advising Center

Financial Aid Services

Science Teaching Labs

Registration Procedures

Library Resources

Computing Facilities

Overall Experience at UMass Boston

Safety on Campus

Email and Internet Access

Public Transportation (if used)

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UMB NSSE Respondents Reported that UMB Emphasized Providing Support for Them to Succeed Academically

Percent of Students Reporting that Their Institution Emphasizes Providing Support for Them to Succeed Academically

"Quite a Bit" or "Very Much"

65%59%

63%69%

74%

63%

53% 53%59%

65%

UMB OtherUMass

Urban Doc.Intensive

National

First YearStudents

Seniors

Source: NSSE 2002

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However, Only Half as Many Reported that UMB Emphasized Providing Support for Them to Thrive Socially

Percent of Students Reporting that Their Institution Emphasizes Providing Support for Them to Thrive Socially

"Quite a Bit" or "Very Much"

29%32%

30%

36%

41%

21%25%

19%

24%

32%

UMB Other UMass Urban Doc.Intensive

National

First YearStudents

Seniors

Source: NSSE 2002

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UMass Boston Students Did Not Rate Their Relationships with other Students as Highly as Did

Some of Their Comparison Groups

Percent of Respondents Rating Their Relationships With other Students as a 6 or 7 on a 7 Point Scale

50%

60%

52%

57%

63%

49%

62%

53%

60%64%


First YearStudents

Seniors

Source: NSSE 2002

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In the Retention Study, Most Groups Gave Mean Ratings Below 8 to Their Relationships with other Students

Mean Ratings of Relationships with other StudentsScale: 0 = Unfriendly and Unsupportive to

10 = Very Friendly and Very Supportive

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Asian

P/I

Black N

/H

Hispan

ic

Inte

rnat

ional

Unk/Ref

used

White

N/H

Wom

en Men

English a

t Hom

e

Other L

anguage All

Source: Retention 2001

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This Was About the Same as Their Ratings of Faculty

Mean Ratings of Relationships with FacultyScale: 0 = Unhelpful and Unavailable to 10 = Very Helpful & Available

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Asian

P/I

Black N

/H

Hispan

ic

Inte

rnat

ional

Unk/Ref

used

White

N/H

Wom

en Men

English a

t Hom

e

Other L

anguage All


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Fall 2000 Freshmen Were Also Asked to Respond To Questions About Faculty and Course Quality

In the Retention 2001 Study

• About Two Thirds Had Contact with Faculty Outside of Class Sometimes or Often

• Over 77% Reported that They Had Enough Contact with Faculty• Over 77% Reported Specific Meeting with Teachers• Over Half Rated Course Quality Very Good or Excellent

– Excellent 10%

– Very Good 42%

– Good 37%

– Fair 10%

– Poor 1%


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Various Administrative Departments Also TendedTo Have Mean Ratings Below 8

Scale: 0 = Worst Possible to 10 = Best Possible

Department % of Students w/Contact Mean Rating

Bursar 77% 7.2

Admissions 52% 7.4

Registrar 76% 7.4

Financial Aid 55% 6.9

Staff from Student Advising 65% 7.6

Staff from Student Life 17% 7.5


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UMB NSSE Respondents Were Much Less Likely to Report That the University Emphasized Attending


Percent of Respondents Reporting that Their Institution Emphasizes Attending Campus Events and Activities "Quite a Bit" or "Very Much"

25%

47%

42%

54%

62%

26%

40%

32%

40%

50%


First YearStudents

Seniors

Source: NSSE 2002

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Graduating Seniors Ranked Communication Regarding Campus Events And Activities Next to Last in the Communications Area, but the Mean Was

Significantly Improved Over August 2002 (Internships etc. also Improved)

Source: GSS 2003

Mean Satisfaction with Communication Ratings

4.0

4.5

4.8

4.8

5.0

5.1

5.1

5.3

5.3

5.5

Internships and Service Learning


Academic Support Services

Disability Accommodations

Health Services

Placement Testing at First Enrollment

Other Graduation Requirement

The Writing Proficiency Requirement

General Education Requirements

Major Requirements

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UMB NSSE Respondents Were the Least Likely To Participate In Co-curricular Activities

Percent of Respondents Who Reported Spending No Time In Co-curricular Activities

78%

54%

66%

49%42%

71%

52%

69%

54%

46%

UMB OtherUMass

Urban Doc.Intensive

National

First YearStudents

Seniors

Source: NSSE 2002

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Conclusions

• UMass Boston Students Are Particularly Stressed for Time and Subject to Outside Pressures

• First Year Students Seem to Be Even More Stressed than Seniors

• UMass Boston Students are also Especially Diverse– Even Within Racial/Ethnic Groups, there is Considerable Cultural Diversity

• Students Invest Time in the Business of UMB– They study and are prepared for class

• They Don’t Spend Time in the “Frills” of Attending College– They don’t attend events– They don’t participate in co-curricular or recreational opportunities

– They don’t spend much time developing relationships with other students • Part of this may be that they don’t believe that UMB emphasizes this type of

behavior.

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