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St. Cloud State University
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Survey a wake-up call for all SCSU staff, faculty, students
Published:
Thursday, March 27, 2003
The release of this year's SCSU student survey provides some telling statistics about our university through the eyes and minds of SCSU students.
The survey gives SCSU a valuable opportunity to evaluate how it, as an institution, is doing. It also affords the community a statistical glance at some prevailing attitudes among students.
There seems to be a prevailing message in this year's results: SCSU could be doing worse; 58 percent of students said SCSU's image is "somewhat favorable" compared to other colleges in Minnesota.
But, the survey points out, SCSU could also be doing better.
It is clear that students hope that SCSU will not be involved with another nationally known lawsuit for reasons of discrimination and/or racism. Everyone here probably shares those thoughts. The effects of such lawsuits has had a profound effect on students, who no longer cite parking as the most pressing issue the university faces. The City of St. Cloud's efforts to significantly raise parking ticket fines might soon change that, however.
Perhaps one of the most surprising results of the survey is that students have little faith in the SCSU advising center. One quarter of students believed the center was not helpful and an alarming 38 percent said the center directed them to take classes they later found out they did not need. No wonder it takes some students more than four years to complete an undergraduate program. This is time and money that those students could have invested in more effective ways.
The university needs to take special note of these statistics and work to improve the quality of help the advising center offers.
On a positive note, SCSU appears to be considering a new payment plan for credits that would make school more affordable to students taking a full load. This is an excellent idea, because students who take more credits spend more and end up with less time to earn money.
Hopefully this year's survey can help SCSU administrators and faculty chart a course toward the important issues the university needs to tackle in the near future.
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