As an enrollment supervisor or a vice chairman of educational affairs, or perhaps a chief in scholar affairs, you would possibly assume, “Why ought to I care about gathering knowledge from our present scholar inhabitants? That’s Institutional Analysis’s job.” However when you care concerning the well being of your establishment, when you care about conserving your college students enrolled to commencement and when you care about exhibiting your college students you care about them as people, then commonly assessing scholar motivation and scholar satisfaction is an exercise that must be in your radar. Deliberately utilizing that knowledge to enhance the lives of your college students and to establish key challenges for the faculty must be a precedence for each member of the institutional management group.
Chances are you’ll know that assessing scholar satisfaction is vital, however it’s good to get others on board on campus.
“If the WHY is highly effective, the HOW is straightforward.” – Jim Rohn
Pupil-level knowledge: Motivational assessments
Understanding what college students must be profitable as they first enter your establishment is a strong approach to start constructing connections and exhibiting college students you care about them. Offering them with the companies that they are saying they need and must be profitable will put you in the perfect place to serve college students in the best way they need to be served. Within the not too long ago revealed 2025 National First-Year Students and Their Motivation to Complete College Report, we recognized the highest 10 requests for help by incoming first-year college students, based mostly on the practically 62,000 responses to the Faculty Pupil Stock within the fall of 2024:
Supply: 2025 National First-Year Students and Their Motivation to Complete College Report
Amongst first-year college students’ high ten requests for help, we discovered themes of connection and belonging, profession help, tutorial help, and monetary steering. These high 10 have remained pretty constant over the previous few years.
When campuses are conscious of what incoming college students want within the combination, institutional assets could be focused to help these companies. And when campuses, particularly advisors, know what particular person college students have self-identified as desired areas of help, steering could be supplied on to the scholars most in want of and most receptive to receiving help.
Whereas campuses can see a 1% enchancment in scholar retention inside the first yr of implementing a motivational evaluation, we’ve got discovered that campuses which might be assessing scholar motivation on a constant foundation over a number of years are almost certainly to see retention ranges enhance.(We acknowledge that motivation knowledge alone doesn’t result in improved retention, however the student-level knowledge is a vital part of institutional retention efforts.) The affect of constantly assessing scholar motivation with the RNL Retention Management System (RMS):
The underside line on why you need to care about assessing particular person scholar motivation
Asking college students as they enter your establishment what they want reveals that you simply care about their expertise. Utilizing that knowledge to construct relationships between advisors and college students lays the inspiration of probably the most vital connections college students can have together with your establishment. Guiding college students to the precise service or help they search places you in the perfect place to interact your college students in significant methods. Finally, serving your college students within the methods they want will make your establishment extra more likely to retain these college students.
Be taught extra concerning the nationwide scholar motivation knowledge and the way it supporting campus retention efforts by becoming a member of dwell or listening to the on-demand session First Year Focus: Understanding Student Motivations, Recognizing Opportunities, and Taking Action.
Obtain the First-Yr Pupil Motivation Report
What are the wants, challenges, and priorities for first-year school college students? Discover out within the Nationwide First-Yr College students and Their Motivation to Full Faculty Report. You’ll be taught their attitudes on ending school, high areas of help, need for profession help, and extra.
Establishment-level knowledge: Pupil satisfaction assessments
Figuring out what college students worth throughout all class ranges at your establishment can present the coed voice in your data-informed decision-making efforts. Assessing scholar satisfaction is one other approach to present college students you care about them, their expertise with you, and what issues to them. Aligning your assets with student-identified priorities will replicate a student-centered setting the place people could also be extra more likely to need to keep.
Pupil satisfaction knowledge from throughout your scholar inhabitants can inform and information your institutional efforts in a number of methods:
- Pupil success and retention actions: Figuring out your high priorities for response so you might be engaged on high-importance, low-satisfaction areas from the coed perspective.
- Strategic planning: Incorporate the coed voice into your long-term planning efforts to remain aligned with the place they need to see you make investments.
- Accreditation: Doc your progress yr over yr as a part of a steady enchancment course of to indicate your regional accreditor that you’re paying consideration and responding to college students (and never simply when it’s time for re-affirmation!).
- Recruitment: Spotlight your high-importance, high-satisfaction strengths to draw college students who will care about what you’ll be able to supply.
To help establishments with constructing the case for scholar satisfaction evaluation on their campuses, we’ve got developed two brief videos (underneath two minutes every), one speaking about why assess satisfaction and why work with RNL particularly. My colleague Shannon Cook dinner additionally hosted a 30-minute webinar that’s available on demand to dive deeper into the why and the way of assessing scholar satisfaction.
Satisfaction knowledge offers helpful views for each division on campus, figuring out areas to have a good time and areas to speculate extra time, vitality, and assets. Campuses that reply to what their college students care about have reported seeing satisfaction ranges enhance and commencement charges enhance. Most establishments we work with assess scholar satisfaction a minimum of as soon as each two or three years after which use the intervening months to discover the info by means of demographic subpopulations and conversations on campus, take motion in high-priority areas, and talk again with college students about what has been achieved based mostly on the coed suggestions. These ongoing cycles put establishments in the perfect place to create a tradition of institutional enchancment based mostly on the coed voice.
Pupil motivation and satisfaction assessments are efficient practices
Based on the outcomes of the 2025 Effective Practices for Student Success, Retention and Completion Report, assessing scholar motivation and scholar satisfaction are strategies utilized by excessive percentages of establishments and are thought of to be extremely efficient.
Supply: 2025 Effective Practices for Student Success, Retention, and Completion
The affect of assessing scholar motivation and scholar satisfaction on institutional commencement charges has been documented with numerous studies through the years.
It is very important remember that simply gathering the info won’t magically aid you retain college students. It is step one within the course of, following these ABCs:
- Assess the wants with scholar and institutional stage knowledge assortment
- Construct a excessive affect completion plan to interact college students from pre-enrollment to retention to commencement, taking motion based mostly on what college students say
- Join college students to campus assets that finest match their wants and can enhance their probability to persist and full and Talk about what you might be doing and why as enhancements are made.
Contact me if you need to be taught extra about assessing scholar motivation and scholar satisfaction in your campus.
