Entering Student Survey Fall 02 and 03

May 27, 2004

This report covers the Entering Student Surveys administered to incoming freshmen entering in fall 2002 and fall 2003. Responses from the fall 2001 entrants are included for comparison. The response rate improved slightly, to about 70 % (N = 250) of the incoming freshmen in fall 2003, but there are still problems in connecting with some of the orientation groups. A separate report may be prepared on incoming undergraduate transfers, though the response rate for them is much lower, 41 % in 2003. A table showing response rates from 1992 is attached.

The ACT instrument used consists of three sections: Section I--Background Information; Section II--Educational Plans and Preferences; and Section III--College Impressions. Selected items from Section I indicate little change in demographic characteristics of these new freshmen, with the exception of the decreasing percentage of males. These survey data are self-reported and may not be consistent with other sources.

SECTION I -- BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Table 1: Some Demographics (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Age 18 or under	75	79	81
Black Non-Hispanic	4	6	8
Hispanic	45	60	50
White Non-Hispanic	47	31	38
Male	67	61	53
Married	.5	.5	2.4
Texas resident	97	98	95

Ethnicity of new freshmen, according to CB1 reports for these three years, is somewhat different from the self-reports above although the pattern is the same.

Table 2: CB1 Ethnicity (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
White Non-Hispanic	44	31	36
Black Non-Hispanic	5	5	8
Hispanic	50	58	54
Asian	1	1	0
American Indian	0	1	0
Non-Res. Alien	0	1	1
Unknown	0	4	1
Total	100	101	100

Additional background information indicates that most still do not come to us from a college preparatory high school program and that approximately a third finished in each of the top three quarters of their high school classes. A substantial number, approximately a fourth of these new freshmen, come from high school graduating classes of more than 400. Of the 2003 entrants, somewhat fewer planned to live in university housing. 83 % say they will be receiving some financial aid.

Table 3: Additional Background Information (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
College Prep Program	45	35	37
Top Qtr Class Rank	28	32	31
Hi Sch GPA A- to A	18	19	20
Class Size < 25	10	6	8
Class Size > 400	27	24	29
Live in Univ. Housing	83	87	76
Financial Aid	78	87	83

It appears that students are planning fewer hours per week employment.

Table 4: Work Plans--Hours Per Week (percentages

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Occasional/None	15	18	19
1 - 20 Hour	39	38	45
21 - 40 Hour	6	10	6
Over 40	1	1	0
Undecided	39	33	29
Total	100	100	99

SECTION II -- EDUCTIONAL PLANS AND PREFERENCE

Of 18 reasons offered for continuing education beyond high school, respondents rated each as a "Major reason," a "Minor reason," or "Not a reason for continuing my education." Table 5 reports the percentage selecting "Major reason" for each in descending order for 2003 respondents. Most other tables will use that same ordering pattern. It should be noted that the Fall 2002 entering group were more likely, overall, to judge a factor as a "Major reason" than the other two sets of new freshmen. For instance, they chose "Major reason" an average of 42 % of the time. The Fall 2001 and 2003 groups assigned that significance 35 % and 36 % of the time, respectively.

Table 5: Reasons for Continuing My Education (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Meet educational requirements for my chosen occupation	80	82	76
Become a better educated person	76	75	74
Qualify for a high level occupation	59	77	68
Increase my earning power	55	72	59
Develop my mind and intellectual abilities	53	65	57
Study new and different subjects	40	53	43
Develop personal maturity	30	45	41
Meet new and interesting people	41	45	40
Develop independence from my parents	32	45	36
Parents / relatives wanted me to continue my education	30	37	35
Develop and use my athletic skills	42	39	28
Become a more cultured person	20	29	26
Take part in the social life offered at college	22	26	23
High school teachers/counselors suggested continuing	23	29	19
Be with friends who attend or will attend college	8	14	14
Continue my religious training	2	7	5
Find a spouse	3	6	4
Couldn't find anything better to do at this time	7	10	4

While the top five and bottom four reasons hold their places consistently, there is a good deal of variation from year to year. The top five reasons are clearly much more frequently given "Major reason" status us and there is a big gap each year between fifth and sixth place. One change over the three years appears to be a reduction in the significance attached to "Developing and using my athletic skills." It will be interesting to see if this changes in the future as a consequence of our 2003-2004 intercollegiate athletic successes.

There is very little change, certainly no noticeable "trends", in the sources of funding incoming freshmen anticipate to pay their bills. Parents, grants, loans, and scholarships are consistently at the top. Since very few incoming freshmen are married, "Spouses income" understandably ranks last. Also irrelevant for the vast majority are veteran's or social security benefits, other loans, and personal savings. Summer employment occupies the middle position. The percentage selecting each as a "Major source of funds" (instead of "Minor source" or "Not a source of funds") are reported in the following table. "Personal savings" declined sharply.

Table 7: Expected Source of Funding for Postsecondary Education (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Parents/relatives	49	49	55
Educational grants	47	53	46
Student loans	32	34	36
Scholarships	32	36	33
Employment while attending college, including CWS	31	46	33
Summer employment	28	33	25
Personal savings	23	27	18
Other loans	15	14	13
Social security benefits	7	3	5
Veteran's benefits	2	1	2
Spouse's income	0	1	1

While there is perhaps some ambiguity in the survey item asking "For what purpose did you enroll at this particular college?" the responses are consistent over these three years. Since the question is being asked of entering freshmen, choices such as "Obtain a doctorate or professional degree," or "Obtain a master's degree" seem inappropriate. Only about half say they are here for a Bachelor's degree and 14 to 17 % have "No definite purpose in mind." The small decline in those coming to us with intent to transfer out later is positive for retention.

Table 8: Purpose in Enrolling at Sul Ross (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Obtain a Bachelor's degree	50	50	46
No definite purpose in mind	14	16	17
Obtain a Master's degree	15	11	15
Take courses necessary for transferring to another college	10	7	6
Obtain or maintain a certification	1	4	5
Obtain an Associate degree	3	5	5
Obtain a doctorate or professional degree	3	3	3
Take a few job-related courses	2	1	2
Take a few courses for self-improvement	1	1	2

Two questions are asked about preferred class meeting times and class formats. There is a clear preference for morning or afternoon classes and no interest in evening or weekend classes among these incoming freshmen. Many will be disappointed in the format of some of their first year courses since their preferred formats are "Small group," and "Lab or shop," not "Lecture." See Table 10, below for detail.

Table 9: Preferred Class Meeting Times (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Morning	57	44	46
Afternoon	32	39	40
Evening	1	2	1
Weekend	0	1	0
No preference	10	15	12
Total	100	101	99

Table 10: Preferred Class Format (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Small group	45	38	38
Lab or shop	21	22	20
No preference	13	25	20
Lecture	11	9	12
Independent study	3	3	5
Private tutor	4	2	4
Correspondence	1	1	2
Other	1	0	0

The next part of Section II asks whether or not the student feels they will need special help in each of nine areas. As might be expected, "Improving math skills" gets the highest percentage (70 %) of "Yes" responses. It is encouraging that so many realize that they need assistance. Whether or not they end up taking the initiative to secure that assistance, apart from developmental courses, is another matter.

Table 11: Will You Need Special Help in Any of These Areas? (percentage "Yes")

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Improving mathematics skills	70	63	70
Improving test-taking skills	63	64	64
Developing better study skills and habits	69	64	59
Improving public speaking skills	46	51	46
Expressing ideas in writing	41	43	45
Improving reading comprehension	43	44	43
Increasing reading speed	44	43	41
Identifying a major area of study	42	34	34
Selecting an appropriate career	37	40	33

The last part of Section II offers seventeen areas of extracurricular activity, asking (Yes or No) whether the student is interested in participating in each activity. Interest in participation drops off rather quickly from "Varsity athletics," which is at the top.

Table 12: Which of These Activities Would You Like to Participate In? (percentage "Yes")

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Varsity athletics	62	54	50
Special interest groups	34	36	41
Campus or community service organizations	37	39	37
Intramural athletics	45	44	35
Departmental clubs	45	40	31
Student radio or TV	24	27	27
Fraternity or sorority	33	38	27
Student publications	22	25	24
Religious organizations	28	25	23
Student government	30	24	22
Instrumental music	11	12	18
Dramatics, Theater	20	19	17
Racial or ethnic organizations	13	12	14
Vocal music	12	12	11
Debate	9	10	9
Political organizations	10	7	9
Cheerleading	4	11	7

SECTION III --COLLEGE IMPRESSIONS

The first two parts of Section III provide the most potentially useful information for recruiting and retention purposes. The first part of Section III offers 23 possible reasons/factors influencing the student's decision to attend Sul Ross. Each is ranked as "Very important," "Moderately important," "Slightly important," or "Not important." The percent selecting "Very important" for the past three entering freshman groups are reported in Table 13.

Five factors on which there has been substantial change in ranking over these three years are marked with an asterisk. Increased weight is being assigned to cost factors and academic and residential facilities while less significance is attached to sports opportunities.

Table 13: Important factors in choice of Sul Ross (percentages selecting "Very important")

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Availability of financial aid or scholarship*	47	58	53
Cost of attending the college*	47	56	52
Availability of a particular program of study	42	44	40
Location of the college	30	37	37
Size of the college	42	42	37
Opportunity for part-time work	23	33	31
Sports opportunities (varsity athletics)*	43	36	30
Academic reputation of the college	24	24	29
Variety of courses offered	22	28	28
Type of community within which the college is located	27	29	25
Extracurricular activities available	29	30	25
Entrance requirements for the college	23	24	24
Facilities available (labs, classrooms, recreational areas)*	10	20	22
Type of housing available*	9	12	19
Advice of someone who has attended the college	12	30	19
Advice of parents or relatives	14	22	16
Social climate and activities at the college	15	11	14
Contact(s) with college representatives	10	18	14
Friends attend (or plan to attend) the college	9	12	11
Advice of high school counselors or teachers	11	15	11
Male/female ratio of the student body	9	8	10
Racial/ethnic makeup of the college	5	3	4
Religious affiliation of the college	2	2	4

Table 14 includes the same data, reporting the average (mean) response and the average mean of these three years. The midpoint of the four possible responses is 2.5, with "Very important" = 1, "Moderately important" = 2, "Slightly important" = 3, and "Not important" = 4. Those factors (bolded) with a three-year mean response between 2.40 and 2.60 might be thought of as a middle group of factors while those averaging a mean response of less than 2.40 could be considered the most significant influences on selection of Sul Ross.

The declining importance attached to "Sports opportunities (varsity athletics)" over these three years is quite striking. While the "Type of housing available" is clearly still in the least important category of factors, the trend is toward attaching more significance to it. One should keep in mind, too, that these surveys are mostly completed during orientation sessions, before the new freshmen have had much if any experience of living in student housing. That factor may well become much more important to them after several months in Mountainside. We have not here distinguished between those who expect to living in student housing (75 90 % of the respondents) and those who do not. See Table 3, above.

Table 14: Important factors in choice of Sul Ross (mean response)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003	Avg mean
Availability of financial aid or scholarship	1.97	1.79	1.84	1.87
Cost of attending the college	1.86	1.73	1.82	1.80
Availability of a particular program of study	2.05	1.88	2.04	1.99
Location of the college	2.31	2.12	2.27	2.23
Size of the college	2.07	2.04	2.26	2.12
Opportunity for part-time work	2.54	2.19	2.37	2.37
Sports opportunities (varsity athletics)	2.32	2.43	2.66	2.47
Academic reputation of the college	2.31	2.22	2.27	2.27
Variety of courses offered	2.34	2.11	2.18	2.21
Type of community within which the college is located	2.33	2.21	2.41	2.32
Extracurricular activities available	2.38	2.34	2.47	2.40
Entrance requirements for the college	2.53	2.34	2.49	2.45
Facilities available (labs, classrooms, recreational areas)	2.77	2.42	2.54	2.58
Type of housing available	3.06	2.83	2.80	2.90
Advice of someone who has attended the college	2.77	2.34	2.69	2.60
Advice of parents or relatives	2.71	2.45	2.70	2.62
Social climate and activities at the college	2.66	2.55	2.59	2.60
Contact(s) with college representatives	3.15	2.78	2.89	2.94
Friends attend (or plan to attend) the college	3.19	2.97	3.05	3.07
Advice of high school counselors or teachers	2.93	2.73	2.96	2.87
Male/female ratio of the student body	3.26	3.10	3.18	3.18
Racial/ethnic makeup of the college	3.41	3.29	3.34	3.35
Religious affiliation of the college	3.53	3.41	3.50	3.48

The other major part of Section III offers 23 statements about Sul Ross. Respondents are offered six choices on each: "Strongly agree," "Agree," "Neutral," "Disagree," "Strongly disagree," and "Don't know/does not apply." Many are assertions with which a new student would have little basis for agreeing or disagreeing. Unfortunately, despite instructions on the use of the "Don't know/does not apply" response as opposed to selecting "Neutral," it does not appear that students discriminate carefully. Therefore we have attached the three-page table reporting all responses at the end of this report (for 2002 and 2003) which provides information on the extent to which the "Neutral" and "Don't know/does not apply" responses were selected.

Table 15 focuses on simple agreement or disagreement with each statement. A total of 467 new freshman respondents in fall 2002 and fall 2003 -- the two groups combined -- are the basis for Table 15. "Neutral" and "Don't know/not applicable" responses are excluded and "Strongly agree" and "Agree" responses are combined, as are "Strongly disagree" and "Disagree" to provide the starkest picture of the image these incoming freshmen have of Sul Ross at the time of entry. The fact that the total number of responses for each item is much lower than the total of 467 is due to the exclusion of "Neutral" and "Don't know/not applicable" responses, along with a number who do not complete that section of the survey.

One result which is very obvious and has been noted in previous reports is that we appear to have a widely held reputation for "easy" grading. Whether or not this is deserved, it is clear that many of our incoming freshmen come with this perception. There is a very high level of agreement with many of the most positive statements about Sul Ross, as well as less uncertainty about the matter--indicated by fewer "Neutral," "Don't know/not applicable" responses.

Table 15: Statements about Sul Ross--Agree/Disagree (percentages)

	Agree	Disagree	Responses
The cost of attending this college is reasonable	99	1	366
This college has high-quality academic programs	98	2	293
College personnel care about individual students	98	2	347
This college has many activities and organizations for students	98	2	317
Students at this college are friendly	97	3	339
There are excellent recreational facilities for individual student use	96	4	275
This college has a high-quality program in the subject area I plan to pursue	95	5	278
Students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds get along well	94	6	258
This college offers many job-oriented courses	94	6	216
There are a large number and variety of courses and programs offered at this college	94	6	280
This college has high-quality classroom and laboratory facilities	91	9	191
This college offers many cultural events and programs	90	10	183
This college provides sufficient financial aid for students who need assistance	89	11	281
This college has a strong intercollegiate athletic program	88	12	207
Many students at this college use drugs and/or alcohol	61	39	152
There are comfortable residence halls at this college	58	42	252
There are many students at this college who hold extreme political views	57	43	91
Many students at this college are more interested in having fun than in studying	57	43	159
The foreign language requirement at this college is too strict	32	68	124
This college has too many required courses	25	75	182
Students must be above average to be admitted to this college	25	75	240
There are too many rules and regulations at this college	23	77	214
It is difficult to earn good grades at this college	22	78	177

Incoming freshmen are asked whether Sul Ross was their first, second, third, or fourth (or lower) choice at the time they applied. The responses suggest some improvement. The likelihood of retention is higher for those who were more enthusiastic about their selection of Sul Ross.

Table 16: Was Sul Ross First Choice, Second Choice, etc.? (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
First choice	50	50	57
Second choice	32	34	27
Third choice	11	12	7
Fourth or lower choice	7	5	9
Total	100	101	100

It also appears that we may be succeeding in encouraging earlier decision making by prospective students in that fewer of those entering in the past two years said they made the choice of Sul Ross after leaving high school.

Table 17: Time at Which Choice of Sul Ross Was Made (percentages)

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Before 9th grade	6	6	10
During 9th grade	3	2	3
During 10th grade	3	3	3
During 11th grade	6	11	10
During 12th grade	51	54	53
After high school	32	24	22
Total	101	100	101

The last section of the survey asks, pertinent to our recruiting efforts, "Whether each of the following (14 possible selections) was a major source, a minor source, or not a source of you information about this college." There may be some decline in references to "Visit to campus" as a source of information.

Table 18: Sources of Information about Sul Ross (percentage responding "Major source")

	Fall 2001	Fall 2002	Fall 2003
Parents or relatives	37	39	45
Visit to campus	41	39	29
Friends at the college	18	21	23
High school counselors	15	23	18
College brochure or pamphlet	20	26	18
College representatives visit to high school (coll.night)	13	21	18
High school teachers	21	32	17
College alumni	10	17	14
College catalog	21	26	13
High school classmates	16	17	13
High school administrators	7	15	9
Articles in newspapers or magazines	2	4	5
High school library materials	4	5	5
Announcements on radio or television	1	4	3

The full tables reporting all responses to the survey items can be made available upon request. If further analysis of any of these items is desired.