Methodology and Acknowledgments
Methodology
The 2023 EDUCAUSE Student Survey was administered from March 23 to May 5, 2023. The survey consisted of 58-items (the survey instrument can be found here: 2023 Student Survey). We used a stratified sampling approach, identifying a sample of institutions based on national statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center of Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall 2021. Institutions that represented a range of characteristics including Carnegie Classification, and sector and level of institution were invited to participate. Overall, 1,951 respondents from 10 institutions participated. Inclusion criteria were based upon a survey item completion rate of 30% or more. Data were weighted by sector of institution, level of institution, and institution size classification to reflect IPEDS benchmarks. The tables below display response rates by institution type and characteristics, in addition to respondent demographics.
Characteristic |
IPEDS Population |
Percentage of IPEDS Population |
Survey Respondents |
Percentage of Survey Respondents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sector of Institution |
||||
Public |
10,662,587 |
74% |
1,639 |
84% |
Private |
3,694,618 |
26% |
312 |
16% |
Total |
14,357,205 |
100% |
1,951 |
100% |
Level of Institution |
||||
|
4 or more years |
10,140,140 |
71% |
1,781 |
91% |
|
Less than 4 years |
4,217,065 |
29% |
170 |
9% |
|
Total |
14,357,205 |
100% |
1,951 |
100% |
|
Institution Size |
||||
|
Under 1,000 |
693,436 |
5% |
- |
0% |
|
1,000-4,999 |
2,732,822 |
19% |
307 |
14% |
|
5,000-9,999 |
2,571,254 |
18% |
52 |
14% |
|
10,000-19,999 |
3,119,441 |
22% |
353 |
17% |
|
20,000 and above |
5,240,252 |
36% |
1,239 |
55% |
|
Total |
14,357,205 |
100% |
1,951 |
100% |
|
Mean age |
27 |
|---|---|
|
Median age |
21 |
|
25th percentile |
19 |
|
50th percentile |
21 |
|
75th percentile |
31 |
|
Freshman or first-year student |
35% |
|---|---|
|
Sophomore or second-year student |
31% |
|
Junior or third-year student |
15% |
|
Senior or fourth-year student |
8% |
|
Fifth-year student or beyond |
3% |
|
Other type of undergraduate student |
9% |
|
Health sciences, including professional programs |
16% |
|---|---|
|
Business, management, marketing |
14% |
|
Computer and information sciences |
12% |
|
Other major not described above |
10% |
|
Social sciences |
9% |
|
Education, including physical education |
8% |
|
Biological/life sciences |
7% |
|
Fine and performing arts |
4% |
|
Humanities |
4% |
|
Undecided |
4% |
|
Engineering and architecture |
3% |
|
Liberal arts/general studies |
3% |
|
Physical sciences, including mathematical sciences |
2% |
|
Public administration, legal, social, and protective services |
2% |
|
Agriculture and natural resources |
1% |
|
Communications/journalism |
1% |
|
Manufacturing, construction, repair, or transportation |
0% |
|
Female |
61% |
|---|---|
|
Male |
32% |
|
Nonbinary |
3% |
|
Prefer not to answer |
3% |
|
Prefer to self-describe |
1% |
|
White |
50% |
|---|---|
|
Black/African American |
24% |
|
Hispanic/Latino/Latina |
17% |
|
Asian/Pacific Islander |
12% |
|
American Indian/Native American/Alaskan native |
3% |
|
Prefer to self-describe |
3% |
|
Prefer not to answer |
3% |
Acknowledgments
EDUCAUSE Research and Insights would like to give a big thank you to the students who participated in this year's survey, in addition to the survey administrators who helped during the survey planning and distribution process. We realize that many students and survey administrators are very busy during the spring semester and that survey scheduling is challenging. Thus, we greatly appreciate the time devoted to participation—we could not have completed this research without the help of each of the participating institutions! Second, we would also like to thank the subject-matter experts who aided in the development of the survey instrument and the report. The feedback given by our SMEs was imperative to ensuring that we were conducting timely and sound research. Third, we would like to thank members of EDUCAUSE's Analytic Services team for the many hours they spent to ensure that the survey and collected data were accessible and functional via the Analytic Services portal, in addition to responding to questions from participating members. Fourth, we thank the project management team for their amazing task-focused mindsets that kept us on track throughout the many months that this project spanned. Fifth, we would like to thank our publications team, graphics designer, and web team who worked diligently to copyedit, design, and finalize the report you have in front of you. Finally, we thank members of the Research and Insights team for their thorough and insightful review of the survey instrument and report. A special thanks goes to our Research Data Analyst, who put in a tremendous amount of work programming the survey and developing toolkits both within and outside the Analytic Services portal.