BCSSE Overview

The Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE, pronounced “bessie”), a companion survey to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), was launched in 2007. Since then, nearly one million first-year entering students, as well as thousands of transfer and older students at 540 institutions across the United States and Canada, have participated.

Two students reading. — Armstrong State University

BCSSE 2020 Overview

BCSSE recently updated the survey to include entering transfer and older students. For entering first-year students, BCSSE collects data about their high school academic and co-curricular experiences, as well as their expectations for participating in educationally purposeful activities during their first college year. For transfer and older students, BCSSE collects information about prior educational experiences, important entering characteristics, as well as their expectations for participating in educationally purposeful activities during the upcoming college year.

BCSSE administration usually takes place prior to the start of fall classes and is designed to be paired with a NSSE administration in the spring to provide an in-depth understanding of first-year student engagement. Faculty, advisors, administrators, researchers, and others can use BCSSE data independently or in combination with NSSE data for program development, institutional assessment and improvement, and related purposes.

In fall 2020, 72 U.S. institutions and 1 from Canada participated in BCSSE. Of those, 38 (53%) also administered NSSE in spring 2021, allowing comparisons of incoming students’ prior experiences and expectations with their actual experiences during the first year.

Survey Administration and Respondents

BCSSE is administered locally by campus officials who facilitate the online administration or distribute the paper survey. In 2020 70 institutions (97%) used the online survey and 2 (3%) used the paper survey. More than 45,000 entering first-year, 5,000 transfer, and nearly 600 older students completed BCSSE in the summer or early fall. The winter administration included 637 entering first-year students, 1,605 transfer students, and 122 older students. Students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands completed BCSSE.

Many different types of U.S. institutions participated in BCSSE. Among them, 42% were classified as master’s colleges and universities, 35% as baccalaureate colleges, and 22% as doctorate-granting universities. BCSSE institutions generally reflect the diversity of U.S. bachelor’s-granting institutions with respect to Carnegie Classification, public or private control, and undergraduate enrollment (Table 1).

BCSSE U.S. Respondents

BCSSE is locally administered, so sampling schemes and data collection methods vary across participating institutions. Most institutions sample their entire incoming first-year population and collect data from 50% to nearly 100% of their students. BCSSE 2020 respondents are profiled in Table 2.

Most BCSSE respondents graduated from a public high school, with more than half earning grades of A− or higher in high school (Table 3). In addition, about 38% of respondents were attending an institution with two or more friends. More than two-thirds of all respondents were attending their first-choice institution.

Table 1 Profile of BCSSE 2020 U.S. Institutions and All Bachelor’s-Granting U.S. Institutions
Institution Characteristics	BCSSE 2020 (%)	U.S.(%)
Carnegie Basic Classification
Doctoral Universities (Very high research activity)	9	8
Doctoral Universities (High research activity)	10	8
Doctoral/Professional Universities	3	9
Master's Colleges and Universities (Larger programs)	24	22
Master's Colleges and Universities (Medium programs)	13	12
Master's Colleges and Universities (Smaller programs)	5	8
Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts & Sciences Focus	19	15
Baccalaureate Colleges—Diverse Fields	16	17
Control
Public	44	35
Private	56	65
Undergraduate Enrollment
Fewer than 1,000	13	21
1,000–2,499	35	32
2,500–4,999	13	17
5,000–9,999	13	15
10,000–19,999	17	8
20,000 or more	10	7
Notes: Percentages are unweighted and based on U.S. postsecondary institutions that award baccalaureate degrees and belong to one of the eight Carnegie classifications in the table. Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding. U.S. percentages are based on the 2019 IPEDS Institutional Characteristics data. For information on the Carnegie Foundation’s 2018 Basic Classification, see carnegieclassifications.iu.edu

Table 2 Profile of BCSSE 2020 Respondents: Demographic Characteristics
	Percentage of Respondents
Gender Identity
Man	39
Woman	59
Another gender identity	1
I prefer not to respond	1
Race/Ethnicity
American Indian or Alaska native	<1
Asian	6
Black or African American	9
Hispanic or Latino	9
Middle Eastern or North African	1
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander	<1
White	60
Multiracial	14
Other	<1
International Student	3
HighSchool Graduation Year
2017 or earlier	6
2018	4
2019	4
2020	86
First-Generation Student(No parent holds a bachelor’s degree)	38
Financial Aid Recipient(Received any scholarship, grant, or student loan)	91
Notes: Includes respondents from U.S. and Canadian institutions. Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.

Table 3 Profile of BCSSE 2020 Respondents: Other Characteristics
	Percentage of Respondents
High School Type
Public	89
Private, religiously affiliated	7
Private, not religiously affiliated	2
Home school	2
Other	1
High School Grades (Typical)
A/A+	44
A-	20
B+	18
B	13
B-	3
C+ or lower	3
Number of friends attending same institution
None	43
1	19
2	14
3 or more	24
Choice of institution
First	70
Second	23
Third or lower	7
Notes: Includes respondents from U.S. and Canadian institutions. Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.

Wondering how to use your BCSSE data?

Visit the Working with BCSSE Data page for illustrative recent examples.

BCSSE Overview

BCSSE 2020 Overview

Survey Administration and Respondents

BCSSE U.S. Respondents

Table 1: Profile of BCSSE 2020 U.S. Institutions and Respondents, and Bachelor’s-Granting U.S. Institutions and Their Students

Table 1

Profile of BCSSE 2020 U.S. Institutions and All Bachelor’s-Granting U.S. Institutions

Table 2: Profile of BCSSE 2020 First-Year Respondents: Demographic Characteristics

Table 2

Profile of BCSSE 2020 Respondents: Demographic Characteristics

Table 3: Profile of BCSSE 2020 First-Year Respondents: Other Characteristics

Table 3

Profile of BCSSE 2020 Respondents: Other Characteristics

Wondering how to use your BCSSE data?

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