Arkansas Tech University–Ozark Campus students are significantly more satisfied than their national community college peers, according to a recent survey. In addition, Arkansas Tech–Ozark Campus students are more likely to recommend their program to prospective students.
Ruffalo Noel Levitz’s Adult Learner Inventory (ALI), a nationally recognized satisfaction survey, was administered to Arkansas Tech–Ozark students from April 3 to April 10. When asked to rate their overall satisfaction with their program of study, 82 percent of Arkansas Tech–Ozark students said either “satisfied” (31 percent) or “very satisfied” (51 percent); however, the national average was 73 percent – 37 percent answering “satisfied” and 36 percent claiming “very satisfied.”
This puts the Ozark Campus 9 points ahead of the national average in terms of satisfaction. Also of note is that in the “very satisfied” category, the Ozark Campus is 15 percentage points ahead of the national average. Similarly, 85 percent of Arkansas Tech-Ozark students said they would recommend their program to other adult learners, whereas the national average for the question was 78 percent.
Mike Bogue, coordinator of the Arkansas Tech-Ozark Student Success Center, said the findings are statistically significant.
“The ALI results are heartening,” said Bogue, who administered the survey this spring. “They tell us that students believe faculty, staff, and administrators are doing a good job of making this a student-centered institution.”
Arkansas Tech-Ozark also scored a significantly higher level of student satisfaction than the national average in eight key areas, including student support services, the teaching-learning process, and life and career planning.
A total of 391 participants – 40 percent of the student body – volunteered to take the survey. Ruffalo Noel Levitz predicts a school’s top participation rate as probably being 20 percent, Bogue said.
Campus strengths that the survey identified include but are not limited to the following:
• My studies are closely related to my life and work goals.
• Administrators and staff are easy to talk to and responsive to my concerns.
• This campus makes it easy for me to pay my bills and answers any questions I have about my student account.
