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Nontraditional Student Survey - Fall 1997

Results - Information

Importance of and Satisfaction with Various Types of Information
Students were asked to rate the importance of and their satisfaction with seven types of information.

Importance

  • Of the seven types of information, on average students assigned the highest importance to knowing about job opportunities in their major, financial aid opportunities, and computers and the internet.
    • 56-71% of students said it is "very" important to know about these things; fewer than 10% said these things are "not at all" important.
  • On average, students assigned the lowest importance to knowing about campus events. Only 9% of students said this type of information is "very" important; 19% said it is "not at all" important.
    • In addition, 33% said it is "not at all" important to know about on-campus job opportunities (although 47% said it's "quite" or "very" important), and 29% said it is "not at all" important to know about how to study and take tests (although 41% said it is "quite" or "very" important).

Table A

How important is it for you to know about:
(1=not at all important  2=somewhat important  3=quite important  4=very important)

Ordered from highest to lowest average importance
Item Percent who rated importance as Mean Importance
Not at all Somewhat Quite Very
Job opportunities in your major 6% 8% 15% 71% 3.5
Financial aid opportunities 8% 11% 16% 65% 3.4
Computers and internet 4% 14% 27% 56% 3.4
Academic tutoring services 19% 36% 30% 14% 2.4
How to study & take tests 29% 31% 18% 23% 2.3
On-campus job opportunities 33% 20% 30% 17% 2.3
Campus events 19% 51% 22% 9% 2.2

Satisfaction

  • Of the seven types of information, on average students reported being the most satisfied with the information they've received on campus events, financial aid opportunities, and computers and the internet.
    • 37%-45% of students reported being satisfied with these types of information; however, 32% of students reported being dissatisfied with the information they've received on financial aid opportunities and computers/internet.
  • On average, students reported being the least satisfied with the information they've received on job opportunities in their major. 43% expressed dissatisfaction, and 25% reported satisfaction with this type of information.
    • In addition, 26-33% reported being dissatisfied with the information they've received on academic tutoring services, on-campus job opportunities, and how to study and take tests.

Table B

How satisfied are you with the amount of information you've received on:
(1=very dissatisfied 2=dissatisfied 3=neutral 4=satisfied 5=very satisfied)

Ordered from highest to lowest average satisfaction
Item Percent who said they are Mean Satisfaction
Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied
Campus events 11% 52% 37% 3.3
Financial aid opportunities 32% 25% 43% 3.1
Computers and internet 32% 22% 45% 3.1
On-campus job opportunities 27% 53% 20% 2.9
How to study & take tests 26% 61% 13% 2.8
Academic tutoring services 33% 47% 21% 2.8
Job opportunities in your major 43% 32% 25% 2.7

Importance vs Satisfaction
Areas which showed the biggest deficit between importance and satisfaction (i.e., those areas for which students' satisfaction isn't as high as the importance would dictate) are job opportunities in one's major, financial aid opportunities, and computers and the internet. Thus, these are areas campus services might want to target in terms of improving the quantity and quality of information that is sent to nontraditional students.

Conversely, students' satisfaction with information on campus events is greater than the importance they assign to this type of information. As such, this is an area for which improvements are probably not necessary at this time.

Table C

Comparison of importance and satisfaction ratings
Importance percent of max scale: 0=not at all 33=somewhat 66=quite 100=very
Satisfaction percent of max scale: 0=very dissat 25=dissat 50=neutral 75=satis 100=very sat

Ordered from highest to lowest average importance
Item Average percent of max Difference between Importance and Satisfaction Scores
Importance Satisfaction
E. Job opportunities in your major 83 43 40
A. Financial aid opportunities 79 53 27
D. Computers and internet 78 52 26
G. Academic tutoring services 46 45 1
C. How to study & take tests 45 46 -1
B. On-campus job opportunities 44 47 -3
F. Campus events 40 57 -17

Display A
Average percent of max scores: Satisfaction vs Importance

Satisfaction
75 +                                |                             |                             |
   |                                |                           + |                             |
70 +                                |                       +     |                             |
   |                                |                   +         |                             |
65 +                                |                             |                             |
  Moderate                          |               +             |                             |
60 +                                |           +                 |                             |
   |                    F           |       +                     |                             |
55 +                                |                             |                             |
   |                                |   +                         |   DA                        |
50 +--------------------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+--
   |                         B  +   |                             |                             |
45 +                          C G   |                             |                             |
   |                        +       |                             |         E                   |
40 +                    +           |                             |                             |
  Low               +               |                             |                             |
35 +                                |                             |                             |
   |            +                   |                             |                             |
30 +        +                       |                             |                             |
   |    +                           |                             |                             |
25 +               Low              |         Moderate            |             High            |
   ---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--
     25    30    35    40    45    50    55    60    65    70    75    80    85    90    95    100
                                             Importance

Items below the diagonal: satisfaction ratings are lower than their corresponding importance ratings
Items above the diagonal: satisfaction ratings are higher than their corresponding importance ratings

Last revision 07/08/05



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