University of North Carolina at Charlotte
BOOKMARKS
Overview of the Campus Climate Survey Project
What's Valued at UNC Charlotte?
Connecting Students to UNC Charlotte
February 6, 1996
Between October 2 and October 10, 1995, a dedicated group of student volunteers
attempted to contact twelve hundred students to gather data about how their fellow
students experienced UNC Charlotte through a structured telephone survey. After the last
phone call was made, the volunteers successfully contacted and collected detailed
information from over five hundred students (n=505) regarding their UNC Charlotte
experiences.
The survey was the product of an eleven month effort by the Student Affairs Retention
Project Team which was tasked with examining the impact of Student Affairs programs
and services, and the campus climate, on student retention. After a careful review of
previous UNC Charlotte and General Administration assessment instruments, a fifty-four
item survey was developed to examine the campus climate in greater detail and to prepare
research based recommendations for improving student retention. The specific campus
climate categories were:
Contacts with other Students
Contacts with Faculty
Contact with the Physical Environment
Contacts with the Social Environment
The UNC Charlotte Community
Contacts with Family
Contacts with the Community of Charlotte
General Perceptions of UNC Charlotte
Student Financial Resources
Retention and Research Issues
The students selected for the survey were drawn at random from all Fall 1995 enrolled
students with the assistance of the Office of Academic Planning and Institutional Research
and with the approval of the University Committee for Review of Research with Human
Subjects. The sample size of 1200 students (7.5 percent of the total student population)
closely matched the characteristics of the entire student population based on gender,
ethnicity, class standing and full-time/part-time status.
While the Retention Project Team is still reviewing the data and is now in the process of
matching survey data with Fall 1995 academic performance and Spring 1996 retention
data, below are a few of the preliminary findings, conclusions and recommendations. For
additional information, please refer to the attached General Summary Report (Under
Construction...) and individual item analysis reports (Under Construction....).
Our students view of UNC Charlotte is overwhelmingly positive . One of the common
impressions is that of an "up and coming" university. They value, above all else, the
opportunity to obtain a quality education from an institution that is continually
improving, growing and is providing a positive educational experience for them. We also
found large numbers of students involved in organizations related to their academic
discipline (25% overall, 42% for seniors), engaged in community service activities (43%
overall) and active in groups or programs (36% overall) outside of the classroom.
While the majority of students found UNC Charlotte to be a welcoming community when
they first arrived (86% overall), there were a few groups that felt less welcomed to the
campus, notably junior transfers (72%) and graduate students (79%). We found these two
groups significantly different from freshmen (92%) and sophomores (94%). The most
probable explanation for these differences rests in their initial introduction to UNC
Charlotte.
Recommendation #1
The most important part of transfer and graduate student orientation lies with the
academic department in terms preparing the student for entry into their academic
program, understanding department specific degree requirements and how the student's
previous college experience relates to the new academic program. We recommend other
intentional mechanisms, from a university wide perspective, be established for transfer and
graduate students including the development or redesign of their orientation experiences
and/or programs in order to provide a more welcoming, engaging and informative initial
experience to the university. The current orientation programs for transfer and graduate
students lack universally supported opportunities for interaction with their fellow students,
the rich introduction to the programs and services offered by the institution, a parallel
support program for family members, and the numerous direct invitations to participate in
the out of class learning experience which freshmen students receive as a part of their
orientation experiences.
Overall, we found students to be engaged with the faculty along class standing lines. As
expected, upper class students reported higher levels of contact with faculty in terms of
discussing career aspirations, working with faculty on projects, discussing personal
concerns, and in having faculty work with them in planning academic schedules than did
freshman students (see Table 1).
TABLE 1 - (Under Construction....)
Contacts with Faculty
We also found that of students who established an important relationship with a faculty
member, that relationship had a dramatically positive impact on retainiion, especially
freshmen (74%) and graduate students (76%). This finding was of particular interest in
that only 27% of freshmen indicated that they had established such a relationship.
Implications
The data in this category, combined with the other categories, presented the first of a series of pictures which described how students connect to the university. In this instance, we found that while freshmen interact less frequently with faculty than their upperclass and graduate peers, when they do receive individual attention from faculty, that relationship has a direct bearing on their decision to remain enrolled. Other survey items indicate that the only connection commuter students have with the university is their involvement in direct classroom activities. We conclude that freshmen commuters are an "at-risk" retention group due to the lesser degree of contact with the University in general and with faculty. This inference is supported by data from a controlled longitudinal study of freshmen who entered UNCC during the fall of 1993 and 1994 which show that commuter freshmen have higher attrition rates than their residential counterparts. We found additional similarities with commuter transfer students in terms of connections to the classroom and would add them as a second "at-risk" retention group. Past Minority Presence Reports demonstrated higher attrition levels and lower graduation rates for transfer students than for freshmen students.
Recommendation #2
We recommend that the university revisit the importance of faculty contact with freshmen,
freshmen commuters and transfer commuters and its impact on student retention. The
expansion of the freshman seminar program and peer mentoring systems are two examples
worth mentioning. Peer mentoring programs have proven successful and are currently
expanding in the colleges. Other efforts should include undergraduate instruction,
academic advisement services and career exploration services. Since faculty contact occurs
primarily in the classroom, any renewed emphasis on faculty contact with new students
would need to be actively supported at the department level.
Our students are working longer hours outside of school (an average of 28 hours per week)
than anticipated (see Table 2). This average number is even higher when you consider
place of residence (on campus[19 hrs/wk], walking distance [25 hrs/wk] and driving
distance[31 hrs/wk]), or non-traditional student status [36 hrs/wk]. In general, students
found their employment interfering with academic progress the longer they worked and
especially if they lived off campus or were non-traditional students.
TABLE 2 - (Under Construction....)
Student Employment
Implications
Given the reality of our students employment commitments, are we being realistic in our
time to degree expectations? Do our publications accurately reflect the realities of student
employment? Finally, are the faculty and the advisors aware of the large time commitment
involved in outside employment of all of our students?
What's Valued at UNC Charlotte
The bottom line is that good customer service is valued at UNC Charlotte. When we asked
students to describe situations where they did not feel valued, they described an
environment where they were not adequately listened to by a faculty member, staff member
or administrative office. It was interesting to note that they did not focus on the
unsuccessful resolution of their concerns as the problem but rather the poor interpersonal
treatment that they received as an individual. For additional information on this issue,
please refer to the attached item analysis for question #36a.
Recommendation #3
The university should continue to pursue CQI training efforts with administrative offices,
faculty and staff. Continued attention should be given to making the student feel that they
are a valued member of our community and treated accordingly.
In general, students perceive UNC Charlotte to be a diverse and supportive community.
However, their satisfaction tended to fall along racial lines. For example, 89 percent of
Caucasian students feel that UNC Charlotte celebrates diversity "Frequently" or "Always"
versus 65 percent for African-American students. There is specific evidence that we are we
preaching to the choir in terms of student attendance at events where information is
presented about other races, cultures, or religions. For example, while 85 percent of the
general student population felt that UNC Charlotte celebrated diversity, only 25 percent
"Frequently" or "Always" attended these type of events. This breaks out even further
when we examine who have "Never" attend them. Specifically, 54 percent of Caucasian
students have never attended these types of events compared to 30 percent of African-American students.
Recommendation # 4
If we as a university are going to continue our forward direction in providing an
environment where diversity and multicultural experiences are an important part of the
UNC Charlotte experience, then we need to develop more innovative approaches than
encouragement, particularly by our Caucasian students, in these types of activities and
events. One of the possible methods would be direct faculty support of these programs as
assignments in related course work.
When asked how they would improve one thing about UNC Charlotte, students reported
the need to improve out-of-class and weekend activities for students. This is not a
surprising finding but one where we need to look at the composition of our student
population. When asked what they value most about their UNC Charlotte experience, the
most frequent responses focused on the relationships students formed with friends (12%)
and meeting people (10%). The obvious inference is that intentionally structured activities
for students encourages the development of these relationships. It should be noted for the
record, that improved parking (22%) and the establishment of a football team (6%) were
also common suggestions.
Recommendation # 5
Our current efforts to sponsor or coordinate out-of-class programs and events is geared
toward our residential population who are younger (20 versus 26), work fewer hours per
week (19 versus 30) and more apt to become engaged in one or more out-of-class clubs or
organizations (67% versus 39%). It is clear that we in Student Affairs need to do a better
job asking all of our students what type of activities and events they would like to see occur
at UNC Charlotte. Currently, we have no regular needs assessment program in place for
either residential or commuter students which addresses this issue. Given the willingness of
our survey participants to respond to follow-up questions, we recommend a needs
assessment survey be developed which could be administered over the telephone or by focus
groups over a short period of time each year where information on desired programs and
activities could be collected and used for program development purposes.
Connecting Students To UNC Charlotte
When conducting the survey we found that 27 percent of our target population were
unreachable because their local addresses were no longer correct. Upon further
examination, we discovered that with the advent of our phone registration system, there
was no vehicle in place, in that system, for the student to alert the university of a change of
address. The implications of this finding raises several questions. First, how much does the
university spend in mailings which use the students local address? Our findings indicate
that this address becomes more inaccurate the longer they are enrolled (18% freshmen
versus 29% seniors). Second, how important is the information we send to students using
this address? We can be sure that a significant percentage of these mailings never reach
the student. One concrete example is the Commuter Express which is mailed out each
semester which contains important information about campus programs, services and
activities. Given an "undeliverable" rate of 27%, not only are limited resources being
wasted, but valuable information and an important life line to the university is being
severed.
Recommendation # 6
Multiple efforts need to be undertaken to maintain contact with our off campus students.
If we do not know where they live locally, it makes it difficult to demonstrate to them that
we are concerned about them and successfully connect them to the programs and services
of the university that they may need. We recommend that the Records and Registration
Office be initially tasked with this project as an integral part of the registration process.
One of the more striking pictures are the characteristics of our commuter population
compared to our residential population. The demographics point to a much older
population (average 26 versus 20), who are working longer hours per week (30 versus 19),
are more apt to be transfer students (42% versus 26%), are more involved with their local
community in terms of attending meetings (62% versus 43%) or participating in
community service (49% versus 31%) and are less apt to become engaged in one or more
out-of-class clubs or organizations (39% versus 67%). It has already been pointed out that
we have lost direct local contact with a sizable portion of our commuter students and that
we are not actively asking what needs they have in terms of support services and activities.
In terms of student retention, commuter students appear to be particularly vulnerable to
attrition as we lose touch with them over time (25 % incorrect local addresses) or make
them feel less welcome to the campus (83% of commuters feel welcome versus 91% of
resident students).
Recommendation # 7
In order to actively support our commuter population the University must identify what
their specific curricular, co-curricular and support service needs are and to continue to
develop programs and services which meet those needs. It is also time to review our
publications and recruitment materials and processes to make certain that we are
accurately describing our student population. Our students are older, working longer
hours and are more involved with their families and communities to a greater degree than
our current literature acknowledges. A further examination of this population is certainly
in order as we look to expand the University in the coming decade in numbers, programs
and services.
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This page maintained by Ted Elling and modified on 10/28/96