Survey of Undergraduate Students
Presented by:
Dennis Domoney, University of
Lethbridge
Kerry Dangerfield, PRA Inc.
Background
The
Canadian Undergraduate Survey Consortium (CUSC) is a group of universities that
annually conducts a survey of students.
CUSC
surveys on a three-year cycle: first-year students; graduating students; all
undergraduates.
The
2002 survey is the eighth survey that the consortium has conducted, and the
number of participating universities has grown from 8 in 1994 to 30 in 2002.
In
2002, each of the 30 participating universities surveyed a sample of all of its
undergraduate students.
Methodology
Each
year, participating universities are invited to review previous surveys, make
suggestions for change, and discuss issues affecting the survey.
Typically,
the survey instruments are long and gather 150 pieces of information.
The
surveys are centrally produced, but each institution is responsible for drawing
a sample of students and distributing the surveys.
In
2002, each university was to draw a random sample of 1,000 full and part-time
undergraduate students excluding independent, special, or Continuing Education
students.
The
sample of students was mailed a package containing a cover letter, the survey,
and a self-addressed, postage-paid return envelope. Two reminder letters were
sent following the initial mailing.
The
average response rate was approximately 42%.
12,695
undergraduate students from across the country participated.
Completed
surveys were sent to PRA Inc. for coding and data entry.
The
data was cleaned and analyzed in SPSS. A summary report and data were sent to
all participating universities.
Overview of findings
For
comparison purposes, universities are categorized into three groups:
Group
1 consists of universities offering primarily undergraduate studies.
Group
2 consists of universities that offer both undergraduate and graduate studies.
Group
3 consists of universities that offer both undergraduate and graduate studies;
most have professional schools as well.
Profile of students
Profile of respondents
More
female (65%) than male (35%) respondents.
Average
age of undergraduate students was 23 years.
14%
reported being a visual minority.
5%
reported having a disability.
41%
lived with their parents; 29% lived on campus; and 21% rented.
88%
were full-time students.
Average
grade was between a B and a B+.
Undergraduates
reported spending an average of 32 hours per week in class or labs (15.5 hours)
or studying outside of class (17 hours).
87%
planned to complete their degree at their current university.
55%
planned to go on to complete a second degree (a second Bachelors, Masters, or
Ph.D.).
Financing and debt
Financing their education
Most
common sources of funding for education in the current year:
parents/family/spouse
(54%)
earnings
from summer work (44%)
personal
savings (39%)
scholarships
from university (31%)
government
loans/bursaries (31%)
earnings
from current employment (31%).
Average
amount to fund university education this year: about $9,000.
Debt from financing
education
50%
of respondents reported having debt as a result of financing their education.
Student
loans were the most common source of debt; 34% of students reported having debt
from a student loan.
Among
those with debt, the typical undergraduate student owed $13,200, and
fourth-year students owed the most ($18,624).
Students perceptions
Areas requiring
most improvement
Satisfied with
quality of teaching
Universities
contribution to
personal growth and development
(Scale of 1 to 5)
Other perceptions of
university
(n=12,695)
Satisfied with
concern shown by university for students as individuals
Satisfied with overall quality of education
