1 Student Characteristics And Measurements of Student Satisfaction Prepared for: The Campus Community Team The Office of Institutional Research and Policy Studies February 11, 2003 Kevin B. Murphy, Research Analyst

2 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 Pilot Graduating Senior Satisfaction Survey August 2002 (PGSSS 2002) –256 Respondents

3 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

4 UMass Boston Students Tend to Be Older Than Their Colleagues at Other Institutions Source: NSSE 2002

5 UMass Boston Students Are Racially And Ethnically Diverse Source: NSSE 2002

6 UMass Boston Students Are More Likely To Have Come Here From Other Colleges Source: NSSE 2002

7 UMass Boston Students Are Also More Likely To Have Come Here from Other Countries Source: NSSE 2002

8 At Least One of the 595 First Time Full Time Freshmen From Fall 2000 Claimed Citizenship in each of these Entities AlbaniaEthiopiaJordanSeychelles AzerbaijanFranceKorea, SouthSingapore BahrainGhanaLebanonSomalia BoliviaGreeceMalaysiaSpain Bosnia and HerzegovinaGuatemalaMexicoSri Lanka BrazilGuinea-BissauMoroccoTaiwan BulgariaGuyanaNetherlandsTanzania CanadaHaitiNew ZealandThailand Cape VerdeHong KongNigeriaTrinidad and Tobago ChinaHungaryPakistanUkraine ColombiaIndiaPhilippinesUnited Kingdom Congo (Kinshasa)IranPortugalUnited States DominicaIrelandRomaniaVenezuela Dominican RepublicIsraelRussiaVietnam EgyptJamaicaSaudi ArabiaYugoslavia El SalvadorJapan Source: Retention 2001

9 A Subset of those 595 First Time Freshmen Who Reported Speaking a Language other than English At Home, Reported Speaking these Languages AkanFarsiMalayalam AlbanianFrenchPortuguese ArabicFrench/Haitian CreolePortuguese and Spanish Arabic and FrenchGreekPunjabi ArmenianGujaragiRussian BosnianHebrewSomalian CantoneseHindiSpanish Cape Verdean CreoleIboSpanish and Chinese ChineseIdoSpanish and Italian CreoleItalianThai Creole FrenchKoreanUrdu and Tushto Creole and Spanish Korean and SpanishVietnamese Dutch Source: Retention 2001

10 UMass Boston Students Reported Lower Levels Of Family Income than Did Their Colleagues at Other Urban Institutions. Source: NSSE 2002

11 UMass Boston Students Tend To Work More Hours Off Campus Each Week Source: NSSE 2002

12 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

13 Many Students Also Spend Significant Amounts Of Time Traveling to and from the Campus Travel Time One WayFrequencyPercent Less than 10 mins. 115% 10 to 20 mins. 2713% 21 to 30 mins. 3416% 31 to 40 mins. 84% 41 to 60 mins % 60 to 90 mins. 2010% More than 90 mins. 42% Total Traveling > 40 Minutes One Way 12962% Source: Retention 2001

14 All of these time constraints and outside pressures keep UMB students from engaging with the college experience as much as they otherwise might.

15 UMass Boston Students Are Less Likely to Attend School Full Time Source: NSSE 2002

16 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

17 UMB Students Reported Spending Fewer Hours Each Week Relaxing and Socializing Source: NSSE 2002

18 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

19 UMass Boston First Year Students Were Also Significantly Less Likely to Have Talked with a Faculty Member about Career Plans Source: NSSE 2002

20 Social Life and Recreational Opportunities

21 Social Life, Recreational and Co-Curricular Opportunities, And Campus Events Ranked Very Low in the Recent Pilot Graduating Senior Satisfaction Survey. Source: PGSSS 2002

22 UMB NSSE Respondents Reported that UMB Emphasized Providing Support for Them to Succeed Academically Source: NSSE 2002

23 However, Only Half as Many Reported that UMB Emphasized Providing Support for Them to Thrive Socially Source: NSSE 2002

24 While Graduating Seniors Rated the Social Life on Campus Just Above Parking, Respondents to the Retention Survey Rated it Dead Last Source: Retention 2001

25 UMass Boston First Year Students Were Significantly Less Likely To Report Having Serious Conversations With Students Who Had Different Attitudes or Beliefs. Source: NSSE 2002

26 UMass Boston Students Did Not Rate Their Relationships with other Students as Highly as Did Their Comparison Groups Source: NSSE 2002

27 In the Retention Study, Most Groups Gave Mean Ratings Below 8 to Their Relationships with other Students Source: Retention 2001

28 This Was About the Same as Their Ratings of Faculty Source: Retention 2001

29 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 Good42% –Good37% –Fair 10% –Poor 1% Source: Retention 2001

30 The Fall 2000 Freshmen Were Also Asked Whether, During Their First Few Weeks, They Felt that They Had Enough Information About Procedures, Regulations, or Services. 152 (73%) of Them Said They Did, and the Rest Were Asked How Often They Did Not. CategoryFrequencyPercent Very Often63% Often178% Sometimes2612% Rarely84% Total209100% Source: Retention 2001

31 Various Administrative Departments Also Tended To Have Mean Ratings Below 8 Scale: 0 = Worst Possible to 10 = Best Possible Department% of Students w/ContactMean Rating Bursar77%7.2 Admissions52%7.4 Registrar76%7.4 Financial Aid55%6.9 Staff from Student Advising65%7.6 Staff from Student Life17%7.5 Source: Retention 2001

32 UMB NSSE Respondents Were Much Less Likely to Report That the University Emphasized Attending Campus Events and Activities Source: NSSE 2002

33 Graduating Seniors Ranked Communication Regarding Campus Events and Activities Next to Last in the Communications Area Source: PGSSS 2002

34 Men, Women, Those Who Spoke English at Home, and Those Who Didn’t All Ranked Communication About Campus Events And Activities Next to Last Source: PGSSS 2002

35 Different Groups of UMB Students Were Generally Dissatisfied With Co-Curricular & Recreational Opportunities. No Identifiable Group Had a Mean Rating of 5 or Better on a 7 point Scale. Source: PGSSS 2002

36 Further, UMB NSSE Respondents Were the Least Likely To Participate In Co-curricular Activities Source: NSSE 2002

37 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 The group of 595 first time full time students held citizenship in over 60 nations and spoke over 30 languages at home. 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.