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Undergraduate Students - 1997

Overview

In spring 1997, Student Affairs Research Services (SARS) developed and administered a survey of undergraduates at all class levels. The purpose of this survey was to allow us to characterize undergraduates' experiences and determine what's going well and what changes could be made to improve the undergraduate experience. The survey asked students about their satisfaction with various aspects of their college experience, how they spend their time and effort, why they are in college, and why they chose to attend CU-Boulder.

There are many aspects of the survey results to look at, so there are lots of stories to tell. And we're still working on writing many of them. So plan to check this web site frequently in the upcoming weeks, as we will be adding more interesting stories about student life at CU-Boulder.

Our preliminary findings lead us to these stories:

• In general, undergraduates are satisfied with CU-Boulder, and they view CU-Boulder's location and campus buildings and facilities as a great asset. However, they have concerns about money, the "bureaucracy," and career-related issues.
• Schoolwork, socializing, and paid work occupy the largest portion of undergraduates' time whereas they spend the least amount of time and effort on interactions with CU-Boulder staff, volunteer and service learning activities, and academic and career advising.

The results of this year's survey represent baseline information about undergraduates' satisfaction, use of services, level of effort, and use of time. We will be able to use this information to see how various groups of students compare to one another (e.g., Are males' and females' experiences different? Are upper division and lower division students' experiences different?) The survey is to be repeated every two years, so we will also be able to see how undergraduates' experiences and attitudes change over time.

Please let us know if and in what ways you find these results useful. What was surprising, confusing, good to know? What unanswered questions do you have after reading the report? How can the reporting of these results be made more useful to you? Send your comments to IR@Colorado.edu.

Our goal is to make these data as useful as possible to faculty and staff at CU-Boulder. As such, we can identify still-enrolled students who said it was OK to follow up with them on their responses. For example, we can produce a list of all students who said the University should improve one of 12 areas (e.g., core curriculum, academic advising, cost) or a list of all students who said they were dissatisfied with a particular service (e.g., student health services, campus bookstore, financial aid services, student union). These students can then be contacted via phone or email and asked to describe their experiences and/or their reasons for their attitudes. Thus, if you are a CU-Boulder faculty or staff member and there is a survey item that you would like to follow-up on, contact IR@Colorado.edu.

In addition, if you would like a listing of all the open-ended comments that were coded a certain way (e.g., coded as a comment that relates to faculty, courses, administration, student services, etc. -- see section on Open-Ended Comments).

The results are described in the following sections:

A. Description of the Undergraduate Survey and Its Methodology

B. Summary of Undergraduates' Greatest Satisfactions/Dissatisfactions

C. Summary of How Undergraduates Spend Their Time and on What They Spend Their Effort

D. Details on Undergraduates' Survey Responses

1. General Thoughts About CU-Boulder
2. Use of and Satisfaction with Services
3. Satisfaction with Aspects of the Campus Environment
4. Faculty and Staff Predictions of Undergraduates' Satisfaction
5. Working for Pay
6. Why Undergraduates Attend College
7. Why Undergraduates Choose CU-Boulder
8. How CU-Boulder Could Improve
9. Most Troubling Personal Issue
10. Open-Ended Comments
11. How Undergraduates Spend Their Time and Effort
12. Relationship of Effort and Satisfaction

Download a WordPerfect 6.1 version of the Undergraduate Survey results. (41 pages, filesize=295K)

Most recent Mac, DOS, and Windows versions of WordPerfect and Microsoft Word can read WordPerfect 6.1 files

l:\www\survey\ug\rpt0.htm - last update 06/99

Last revision 07/01/03