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National Survey of Student Engagement: CU-Boulder 2000

Other findings - CU-Boulder versus AAU institutions

Primary obstacle to degree completion. Money and motivation are primary obstacles. Overall, students at most universities report that financial issues have the most potential to prevent their completing their degrees, although this varies widely from institution to institution. CU-Boulder freshmen are among those more likely to cite this issue, and seniors among the least likely.

The second most common reason given for potentially not completing a degree is lack of personal motivation. CU seniors and freshmen are equally likely to report that their motivation may keep them from finishing. As these responses are compared with those from other schools, though, we see that CU seniors are more likely than students from many other schools to cite motivation problems, whereas CU freshmen are less likely than students from any of the other schools to cite such problems.

Among institutions, CU freshmen are more likely than freshmen at other schools to cite difficulty getting courses as an obstacle, but by senior year they are among many schools less likely to cite this issue. Both seniors and freshmen at CU are among those most likely to cite lack of good advising. Few CU students expect family obligations to interfere with degree completion; in fact, CU seniors are less likely than seniors from any other schools to cite this issue.

Expected time to degree completion. It is clear, across colleges, that most students expect to complete their degrees within four years, and that an only-slightly-smaller number expect to finish in four to five years. Very few freshmen expect to finish in more than five years, and even fewer expect to transfer or get no degree at all. A few CU-Boulder seniors indicate that degree completion will take more than five years, perhaps reflecting their current reality.

When comparing CU-Boulder students to those from other schools, we find that CU freshmen are least likely, and seniors among the least likely, to expect to finish in four years or fewer. Meanwhile, freshmen are most likely, and seniors second-most likely, to expect to graduate in four to five years.

CU-Boulder freshmen are more likely than those from any other school to expect to transfer to another college or university to complete their degree (although the number of students reporting this is still very low). Almost no respondents expect that they will not complete a degree.

Plans after graduation. The most striking result in this group is the reversal that happens between freshman and senior years on two of these items. Freshmen generally report low expectations of heading straight to work after college, and they are somewhat more likely to expect to attend graduate school (this varies widely by institution and, of course, many freshmen report being unsure of their post-college plans). However, by the time they are seniors, students are much less likely, on average, to expect to attend graduate school, and far more likely to expect to work. CU-Boulder seniors are most likely of all institutions to say that they will head to a job after the bachelor's degree, and least likely to say that they will attend graduate school.

Though the ratings are very low, CU-Boulder students at both levels are most likely of all schools to report that they will take time off after college.

Primary reason for working for pay. At most schools, students' primary reason for working is to earn money to cover basic expenses, and their second reason is to earn extra spending money. Across all schools, freshmen are more likely than seniors to work for extra spending money (note that CU freshmen are among the least likely to report working for extra money) and seniors are somewhat more likely than freshmen to work to cover basic expenses (note that CU-Boulder freshmen are among the most likely to work for basic expenses and that CU-Boulder seniors are about equally likely to do so).

Results suggest that CU-Boulder seniors work for both money and skill development, while freshmen work solely for the money. CU-Boulder freshmen are among the least likely to work to gain knowledge and skills, but seniors are among the most likely. There is almost no variability in the low ratings on "don't work for pay"-students from all schools are at the very bottom of the scale.

Key for identifying institutions

NSSE 2000 Table of Contents

Last revision 04/26/02

jo - l:\ir\survey\nsse\00\report\nonordered_inst.doc, last updated 6/11/01