Guiding Career Services at Public Colleges and Universities With Student Data

This blog was co-written by Brandi Phillips, Executive Consultant for Student Success Solutions, RNL. Please see this blog on career services at four-year private institutions for an analysis of that sector.

Student data can drive decision making in a powerful way at public colleges and universities. That’s why hundreds public institutions work with RNL annually to capture both the motivational levels of their individual first-year and second-year students and the satisfaction levels across their student populations. Looking at both motivational and satisfaction data in tandem can guide institutions on how to meet student expectations.

RNL offers respected student success survey instruments to capture student motivation and student satisfaction. The Retention Management System (RMS), including the College Student Inventory, the Mid-Year Student Assessment, and the Second-Year Student Assessment, provide the motivational perspective by identifying academic and non-academic factors that can impede individual students’ ability to stay successfully enrolled while simultaneously offering specific, data-informed recommendations for student’s success and retention. The Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys (SPS), with the Student Satisfaction Inventory, look at the satisfaction levels within the context of how important experiences are inside and outside of the classroom. These survey instruments have been in the higher education marketplace for 30 years and provide an opportunity for institutions to understand where they can best serve their students successfully from two different, yet interrelating, perspectives: up-close with individual students and with a wider view across the entire student population.

RNL is developing a framework to guide institutions in looking at their RMS and SPS results together. As part of this process, we are also examining the national data sets to provide insight into the big picture view at four-year private and four-year public institutions across the country, focusing on particular topics that are reflected in the surveys. This analysis identifies the items on both survey instruments which support how an institution can use the data from multiple surveys to guide activities in particular topic areas.

The first topic for consideration is career services, which is an area that helps link the currently enrolled student experience to what comes after graduation. When students understand the value of the career guidance provided by the college and have the support services in place to meet their needs, there is an opportunity for greater success, for the individual student and for the institution as a whole. (See this blog for a look at the data for four-year private institutions).

Career services at four-year public colleges and universities

Freshmen completing the College Student Inventory

Students first entering the institution complete the College Student Inventory (CSI) as an admissions checklist, during orientation or as part of a Freshman Year Experience Course (FYE). The individual reporting for the student and their advisor/counselor provides areas for exploration and identifies the services needed to support the student in staying enrolled.

Although 81 percent of entering freshmen at four-year publics state that they have found a potential career that strongly interests them, 74 percent want help selecting an educational plan that will prepare them to get a good job and 71 percent want to talk with someone about the qualifications needed for certain occupations.  Students have a strong interest in determining which academic program would best suit their interests and goals, and they want to ensure that they are qualified to obtain a good job and career. More than half want assistance selecting an occupation that is well suited to their interests and abilities and want to talk with someone and the advantages and disadvantages of various occupations.

Freshmen completing the Mid-Year Student Assessment

The Mid-Year Student Assessment (MYSA) is a follow-up inventory to the CSI and provides a pulse check on students’ needs and their completed activities as they conclude their first term at the institution.

As they enter the mid-point of their first year, the majority of freshmen at four-year publics still desire assistance with career guidance. They want to discuss the qualifications for certain occupations, get help with an educational plan to prepare for a good job, discuss salaries and future outlook for various occupations. They also want to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various occupations along with receiving assistance with selecting an occupation that is well suited to their interests and abilities.

Sophomores completing the Second-Year Student Assessment

The Second-Year Student Assessment (SYSA) is completed by students at the end of their first year or at the very beginning of their sophomore year. It can be administered as a follow up to the CSI and MYSA, or independently. It identifies which campus supports students have received assistance in their first year and specific resources they desire as they begin the next step in their educational journey.

Second-year students at four-year publics indicate strong interests in receiving assistance with identifying work experiences and internships related to their major, define goals suited to their major or career interest(s), explore advantages and disadvantages of their career choice, and preparing a written plan for graduation.

All class levels completing the Student Satisfaction Inventory

As indicated in the section above, the Student Satisfaction Inventory is administered across all class levels at the institution, asking students to indicate how important an item is to them along with how satisfied they are that the institution is meeting their expectations. A gap is calculated by subtracting the satisfaction score from the importance score. Larger gaps indicate greater discrepancies between the two scores. Similar to the four-year private results for the item, “There are adequate services to help me decide upon a career” we see the highest level of importance for first-year students at four-year publics, before the importance scores decline with each following class level. Satisfaction levels also start out higher for freshmen and then drop as the student progresses. The largest gap in meeting expectations on this item is for seniors. As noted earlier, it is worth considering the phrasing of the item saying “decide upon a career” since we know from the RMS data that students enter the institution with a strong belief of the career they want to pursue. If the item were phrased in terms of seeking career guidance for applying their major to a getting an actual job or for getting direction on internships for practical experiences, the importance and satisfaction scores may reflect different perceptions.

It is concerning to see career services drop both in importance and satisfaction among sophomores at four-year publics when students could be moving closer to aligning their major to their potential career. The findings here support the idea that four-year public institutions could better promote, prioritize and deliver career services to both first-year and second-year students since we know that career outcomes and career motivation can be influential factors in keeping students enrolled.

Learn more about strengthening student success with assessments

The power of these data are evident in the insights they provide on your student populations. Using these data to inform student success activities can have a positive impact on retention and graduation rates. Please contact me if you would like to explore using your RMS and SPS data sets to support your student success efforts or if you are interested in implementing either of these assessments in the future.