Developed by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), the College Senior Survey (CSS) is administered through the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), which has conducted national surveys of college students and faculty since 1966. Although the CSS can be used as a stand-alone instrument, when used in conjunction with the CIRP Freshman Survey or the Your First College Year (YFCY) Survey, the CSS generates valuable longitudinal data on students’ cognitive and affective growth during college. The CSS is used by researchers and practitioners to study the impact of service-learning, leadership development, and student-faculty interactions, as well as to assess a wide variety of instructional practices.

Administered to seniors as an "exit" survey, the CSS focuses on a broad range of college outcomes and post-college goals and plans including:

• academic achievement and engagement
• cognitive and affective development
• student values, attitudes, and goals
• satisfaction with the college experience
• degree aspirations and career plans
• post-college plans

  The 2008-2009 College Senior Survey instrument is now available for download. Click here for the official copy.

Note: A list of majors and careers to be used with the survey can be found here. These lists will be contained on a removeable flap attached to the paper survey instrument.

The CSS is conducted from November–June to facilitate surveying both December and June graduates, and is offered as both a paper and a web survey. Our new web portal (www.cirpsurveys.org) provides greater flexibility and ease of use when managing your survey administration.

The Paper Survey—can be admin istered in the classroom, a group setting, or as a mail-out survey. The most successful administration of the CSS is in large group settings, such as a graduation rehearsal. You select the delivery date and the number of questionnaires needed. Your paper survey data is available in just 3 weeks after your paper questionnaires arrive for scanning.

The Web Survey—can be administered either with your campus managing the email notification process, or for ease of use, you can elect to have HERI manage the email notifications to students. A web survey can be more convenient for both you and your students. Our new web portal allows you maximum flexibility in setting email notification and reminder dates, customized “welcome” and “thank you” pages, customized email notifications, and input of additional questions. Throughout the administration, you can obtain updates on your response rate. Your survey data is available the day after a student completes the questionnaire.

The Paper & Web Survey Combination—enables your institution to enhance your response rate by using both methodologies for maximum exposure. Students may complete either version.

  CIRP College Senior Survey: Reports & Special Services

  CIRP College Senior Survey: Fees / Cancellation Policy

  CIRP College Senior Survey: Administration Schedule

If your institution decides on a web-only or a paper and web CSS survey administration, we offer the following web-based options for further customizing the online version of the CSS.

FOR SCHOOLS USING WEB SURVEYS (Web Only or Paper/Web administration)
Feature	Schools using...	Cost
Web Feature 1: A customized Welcome/Thank you page from your institution	...web surveys	Free
After a student logs into the online version of the CSS survey, they are directed to a customized Welcome page that includes text and a graphic (e.g., logo) supplied by your institution. No other graphic capability will be available aside from your institution's logo. HERI will provide a default version of this welcome page if none is supplied by your institution. Similarly, your institution will be able to supply custom text for the exit or Thank You page of the survey once the student submits their responses. This exit page can be used to remind the student about any incentive offer available to them (e.g., campus store rebate, raffle qualification, discount coupon, etc.). Also a direct link to another website (e.g., institution web page) or other student instructions can be placed within this page. Example of Custom Welcome / Thank You Screens
Web Feature 2: Integrated Additional Questions (limit: 20 items, 5-point scale)	...web surveys	$300
The web-integrated additional questions allow your institution to provide text for campus-specific questions onto the online version of the CSS survey. Institutions that wish to utilize the 20 supplemental questions without this web option must do so by distributing an extra handout to its entire target sample on their own. The 20 local questions will have up to a five-point scale each, and they will be limited to a single response per question (i.e., no multiple response questions are possible).
Web Feature 3: Web-based Email Distribution System	...web surveys	$325
The web-based email distribution system allows your institution to manage the survey administration through the web. Institutions will control the survey launch date, send out targeted email invitations, and send out reminder emails to non-respondents. Institutions will first upload a file (e.g., MS Excel, tab-separated, comma-separated) that includes a list of student names and email addresses to be included in the survey administration. These names and emails will then be placed in the web-based email distribution system. Generic text will be supplied by HERI for use in the email invitation and reminder emails generated by the email distribution system, although this text can be modified by institutions as necessary.
FOR ALL SCHOOLS (Paper Only, Web Only, or Paper/Web administration)
Web Feature 4: Real-time Data Analysis (ALL schools, regardless of administration method)	...paper or web	$475
This year, institutions will have the ability to perform “real-time” data analysis on variables within the survey. This will include frequency distributions, crosstabulations, and means, as appropriate. Institutions using a paper only, paper & web, and web only administration will have the ability to utilize this service to conduct simple descriptive analyses in “real-time”, as both paper and web surveys will be added into the scanned file as the data is received.

The following are sample letters that an institution may send out to their students.

Form/Document Title	Wave 1	Wave 2
Paper Only Administration
Web Only Administration
Paper / Web Administration

Yes, for an additional fee. Please check the respective survey overview pages for the exact fee amount.

Related Links: TFS Overview, YFCY Overview, CSS Overview, Faculty Survey Overview

Only web administered surveys have this option, and it is at an additional cost. Otherwise you must distribute the questions to the students separately with instructions on how to fill in the answers on the survey form. Please check the respective survey overview pages for the exact fee amount.

Related Links: TFS Overview, YFCY Overview, CSS Overview, Faculty Survey Overview

No, your institution will instruct the students what to enter (if anything). Please note, however, that if nothing is entered in the ID# field, it will be next to impossible to link respondants in any of the follow-up CIRP surveys.

As of September 2007, all Research Approval and Certification of Research Use forms are to be completed online via the CIRP Online Portal.

This varies from campus to campus. HERI does not require an IRB member to complete the RAF; any appropriate campus representative may complete the form. However, your institution may have rules about who can complete such forms - so please check with your local IRB.

It depends. If your institution is canceling participation in the survey, then please return all forms in the original box to the vendor where they came from to avoid being charged the full participation fee. Otherwise, we do not want unused forms. Do not attempt to reuse forms next year as the survey changes each year. Please dispose of unused forms responsibly.

Traditionally we used Social Security Number as the student ID, though schools had the option of instructing students to enter their local school ID#. As preference for using student ID's grew, HERI changed the language on the survey forms, but the same rules still apply

1. You can instruct the students to enter anything you want (SSN, ID#, birthday)
2. Make sure to instruct students to use the same type of ID in follow up surveys to facilitate linking longitudinal data

Please refer to the calendar in our forum and the Administrative Guidelines for specific dates. In general, there are 9 steps:

1. Register your institution for the survey, ordering surveys/log-on IDs to arrive a week before you plan on administering.
2. Set up a PO to pay for the participation fee. You may also include projected processing fees on this PO.
3. Complete the online Research Approval Form (RAF) stating whether or not IRB approval was required on your campus.
4. Administer the surveys.
5. Return surveys to our vendor (you can use the boxes they came in) remembering to include the Transmittal Form in the boxes.
6. Fill in the online Administration Report Form (ARF).
7. Order any additional data services you may desire.
8. Set up a PO to pay for processing fees and/or additional data services.
9. Receive survey results from HERI.

Your participation fee includes:

• participation in the current year survey
• any costs involved in mailing surveys to your institution (unless expedited shipping is necessary, in which case it is billed to your institution),
• your Institutional Profile (Report on Excel Spreadsheet), and
• the Data File (in SPSS and raw formats).

Freshmen Survey participants also receive a copy of The American Freshmen: National Norms publication; and Faculty Survey participants also receive a copy of The American College Teacher: National Norms.

There are two invoices you will receive; one when you first sign up for the participation fee and one at the end of administration for the processing fees. Please check the individual survey overview pages for more info on pricing structure. Any additional Data Services that your institution has ordered will be billed for separately when services are rendered. (See Data Services Order Forms for more detailed information about Additional Data Services).

Please follow the directions given in the Researcher’s Tools section.

On all surveys from 2007 on, data services will be ordered via the web portal. For orders on older surveys please use the archived DSOs available under Data Services Order Forms.

Generally speaking, institutions should expect to receive their results (aka institutional profile) from each survey within approximately 6 weeks from the close of survey. The official survey close date is posted in the administrative guidelines for each respective survey, as well as online in the HERI forum.

CELL	INSTITUTIONAL TYPE/SELECTIVITY1	SELECTIVITY SCORE2
Public Universities
01	low	less than 1,085
02	medium	1,085 – 1,139
03	high	1,140 or more
Private Universities
04	medium	less than 1,174
05	high	1,174 – 1,309
06	very high	1,310 or more
Public Four-year Colleges
07	low	less than 985
08	medium	985 – 1,054
09	high	1,055 or more
10	unknown 3
Nonsectarian Four-year Colleges
11	low	less than 1,015
12	medium	1,015 – 1,099
13	high	1,100 – 1,249
14	very	high 1,250 or more
15	unknown
Catholic Four-year Colleges
16	low	less than 1,020
17	medium	1,020 – 1,074
18	high	1,075 or more
19	unknown
Other Religious Four-year Colleges
20	very low	less than 985
21	low	985 – 1,049
22	medium	1,050 – 1,099
23	high	1,100 or more
24	unknown
Two-year Colleges4
25-29	public
30-33	private
Historically Black Colleges & Universities4
34	public 4-year colleges/universities
35	private 4-year colleges/universities
36	public 2-year colleges
37	private 2-year colleges

1 The broad categories of institutional type are defined as follows:

University	an institution that awards a substantial number of doctoral-level degrees in at least five different disciplines. The CIRP “university” is roughly equivalent to the Carnegie “Research” and “Doctoral” designations.
Four-year College	an institution that awards master- and/or bachelor-level degrees. Corresponds Equivalent to the Carnegie “Master’s (Comprehensive)” and “Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts)” designations.
Two-year College	an institution that awards associate-level degrees.

2 Selectivity is defined as the average SAT Composite Score of the entering class.

3 Institutions with unknown selectivity are grouped with the low-selectivity when computing the National Norms.

4 Two-year colleges and historically Black colleges & universities are not differentiated by selectivity.

More than you need. We do not charge based on how many forms you order, but on how many completed surveys you return.

While we do still mail out "invitations," one is not needed in order to sign up for any HERI surveys. All survey registrations are now done exclusively on-line through the web via the CIRP web portal.

There is not an actual deadline for registering. However, all institution must complete survey administration by the official survey close date (this may be found in the Administrative Guidelines for each respective survey). You can register up until a week before the survey administration closes, as long as you complete survey administration by the official survey administration close date. To avoid expedited shipping being billed to your institution, please order your surveys at least 10 business days before they are needed.

Registration pages for each survey usually go up about a month or two before the survey administration period officially starts.

• The CIRP Freshman survey is usually administered annually during Summer or the start of Fall, as it is given to freshmen who are just beginning at their institution. So look to be able to register a couple of months or so before the start of Summer.
• The Your First College Year (YFCY) and College Senior Survey (CSS) are usually administered annually at the end of the school year, so registration for these two surveys typically go live around some time during the Fall.
• The HERI Faculty Survey is administered tri-annually during the Fall, so expect to be able to register in the late Summer.