Consortia

Cost

Institutions participating in a consortium will incur a $125 participation fee. Additional fees for appending extra question sets are also assessed.

Base FeeAdditional Item Coordination Fee
Coordinated use of one Topical Module$125none
Coordinated use of two Topical Modules*$125$275
Coordinated use of a customized question set$125$325
Coordinated use of one Topical Module AND a customized question set$125$325
No coordination of extra question sets$125none

*Note that the fee incurred for appending two Topical Modules is the same whether or not the institution participates in a consortium. An institution is not “double-billed” for appending Topical Modules when participating in a consortium.

Coordinator Role

The Consortium Coordinator is responsible for registering the consortium each year in August. During registration the coordinator will select from among a variety of options:

  • Deciding whether a peer group comprised of consortium members will be displayed on the reports created for Institutions, and/or;
  • Coordinating use of Topical Modules and/or a customized question set of questions.

The coordinator serves as the point of contact for NSSE staff and helps ensure completion of all survey administration details. Coordinators recruit institutions, finalize coordination of extra survey items in early September, remind eligible and desired institutions to enroll, and coordinate data sharing agreements when necessary. NSSE provides coordinators with ample resources and guidance to accomplish these tasks.

Timeline

Consortium coordinators register consortia in August of each year, and institutions choose consortium participation in the first phase of survey customization in September. Consortium reports are delivered in October. Specific dates can be found on the NSSE administration timeline

Administering Consortium Questions with FSSE

Institutions participating in a NSSE consortium have the opportunity to administer consortium items along with their FSSE administration. Administering such items allows faculty responses to give context to the student experience. For more information contact us via email (fsse@indiana.edu).

Examples of How Consortia Have Put NSSE Data to Use

University of St. Thomas (TX), member of the 2012 Catholic Colleges & Universities consortium. The Catholic Colleges Consortium questions focus on assessing mission effectiveness. Results provide participating institutions evidence of mission fulfillment for accreditation and the extent to which institutional goals align with mission. The consortium produces a custom report titled, Mission Perception Inventory (MPI) to compare the mean performance on the overall MPI items and subscales with consortium schools. The University of Saint Mary uses its consortium results to assess the distinctiveness of their campus ministry program and to promote campus conversations about outcomes of their first-year experience course and the campus ministry program.
Since its formation in 2011, more than 40 institutions have participated in the Sustainability Education Consortium. The consortium added 20 questions to assess engagement in sustainability education across the curriculum to develop a user-friendly assessment system for sustainability education. With these results, institutions could (a) acquire a cross-institution data set on students’ engagement with aspects of sustainability, (b) assess institutional strengths and weaknesses with respect to sustainability education compared to peers, and (c) provide one source of assessment data for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) education initiative.