Students surveyed on college experience

By Nicole Tropf
The Collegian

Fresno State is distributing a National Survey of Student Engagement to a random selection of first-year and senior college students.

A letter is distributed by mail and students are asked to answer questions pertaining to their life experiences with things happening at and around Fresno State.

The survey is conducted to gather information on how colleges and universities are perceived by students.

Fresno State has been a participant of NSSE since 2001. More than 1,000 four-year colleges and universities recognize and participate in the survey; 600 are participating this spring.

The survey provides a way for Fresno State to get ideas about how to help students make the college experience more enjoyable.

According to Dr. Paul M. Oliaro, Dean of Student Affairs, the survey is a benchmark to measure how often students participate with campus functions. It also measures student satisfaction or frustration.

Some of the questions on the survey ask students how they spend their time and what they have gained from classes. They are also asked to assess the quality of the interaction between faculty and students.

Dennis Nef, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, said the last survey in 2005 gave the university insight into life as a college student. It was found that more students spent time at a job, commuting or taking care of dependants than focusing on schoolwork and socializing.

According to NSSE, Fresno State wants to know if course work is challenging enough, if learning has been made active and collaborative, if the college is enriching the experiences for students and if the campus provides support of the student environment.

As a result of first-year student responses in 2002, Oliaro said the Mentoring Institute at Fresno State was developed to increase first-year student engagement with faculty and staff under the guidance of a mentor.

The survey provides a way to understand the gripes and frustrations as well as compliments and satisfactions from students that would normally never be heard.

The result of NSSE is primarily to help Fresno State learn about the interactions between students and the institution; however, it serves other purposes as well.

From the 600 schools participating this spring, the students asked to participate will be put into categories so that the nation can collect data on how to make institutions and administration more appealing.

According to a NSSE Web site, statistics will also be available to determine how opinions change from freshman to senior year, how male and female students’ opinions compare and contrast and how college students cope in different cities across the nation.

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