NSSE 2023 includes new and updated questions pertaining to student identity. As introduced in our NSSE Sightings blog, many of these have modified response options and language to better reflect students’ experiences. Some examples include:

• The gender identity and sexual orientation items are now in “select all that apply” format and have new response options.
• Revised questions on race/ethnicity are more respectful of group self-identification, for example, expanding descriptions for “Indigenous, American Indian, Native American, or Alaska Native.”
• The Greek-letter organization question is more inclusive of both social and service organizations.

For more information and a complete list of changes by survey year, visit this page in the Survey Instruments section of our website.

Approximately 1.5 million first-year and senior students from 541 institutions (473 in the US, 63 in Canada, and 5 in other countries) were invited to participate in NSSE 2023. Of this population, 354,067 students responded to the survey. First-year and senior students were about equally represented among the respondent population.

NSSE’s sampling methodology calls for either a census of all first-year and senior students or a random selection of an equal number of students from each group, with sample sizes based on total undergraduate enrollment. Census recruitment is available via email, in which students get a survey invitation and up to four reminders.

Unless noted otherwise, the results presented below are from 517 institutions—456 in the US and 61 in Canada—that participated in NSSE 2023. Due to nonstandard details of their participation, 24 institutions are not represented. In these summary tables, and in the Institutional Report 2023, only data for census-administered and randomly sampled students are included. NSSE 2023 U.S. respondents profiled here include 239,753 first-year (48%) and senior (52%) respondents.

An Unexpected Disruption

Often taken for granted, technology is essential to a successful NSSE administration. To this point, this administration will be remembered, in part, for an unexpected disruption of recruitment email message delivery. The root cause of the disruption turned out to be the quarantining of an Indiana University server by one overly zealous email security organization. Although we halted and resumed message delivery within a brief time, the disruption affected data collection and response rates for some institutions that had messages delivered prior to March 20, 2023.

However, determining the impact on response rates for individual institutions is complicated. While 2023 response rates are down overall from last year, this trend has continued over multiple years and is true for other college student surveys. And, except for a relatively small minority, response rates at institutions that escaped the disruption are generally comparable to those affected. NSSE plans to prevent future disruptions by using a variety of approaches to minimize the impact of novel technical issues beyond our control. To the institutions most impacted by this event, we thank you for your patience and understanding as we addressed the issue.

U.S. Participating Institutions

NSSE 2023 participating institutions and students reflect the diversity of bachelor’s-granting colleges and universities in the US with respect to institution type, public or private control, size, region, and locale (Table 1). A searchable list of participating institutions is on the NSSE website.

Table 1: Profile of NSSE 2023 U.S. Institutions and Respondents and Bachelor’s-Granting U.S. Institutions and Their Students

Institutional Response Rates

The average response rate for U.S. NSSE 2022 institutions was 28%, a one-point decline from last year. The highest response rate among U.S. institutions was 67%, and over half achieved a response rate of 25% or higher. Higher average response rates were observed for smaller institutions and at institutions that offered incentives for survey participation (Table 2).

Fifty-nine percent of institutions offered a survey incentive. On average, these institutions had a 31% response rate, eight percentage points higher than those that did not offer an incentive. Institutions also had the option to use their learning management system or student portal to recruit students. In 2022, 114 U.S. institutions chose this option, and the average share of respondents who accessed the survey this way was 28%.

Table 2: NSSE 2022 U.S. Participation and Response Rates by Undergraduate Enrollment and Use of Incentives

Survey Customization

Participating institutions may append up to two additional question sets in the form of NSSE Topical Modules or consortium questions (for institutions sharing a common interest and participating as a NSSE consortium) (Table 3). Of the ten modules available in 2022, the most widely adopted was Academic Advising (Table 4).

U.S. Respondent Profile

Table 5 displays selected demographic and enrollment characteristics of NSSE 2022 U.S. respondents alongside all U.S. bachelor’s degree-seeking students for comparison. NSSE reports use weights as appropriate to correct for disproportionate survey response related to institution-reported sex and enrollment status at each institution.

Table 5: Characteristics of NSSE 2023 U.S. Respondents and Undergraduate Population at All U.S. Bachelor’s Degree-Granting Institution