NSSE Administration Overview

NSSE 2025 Administration Overview

Features
• Survey Data & Methodology
• U.S. Participating Institutions
• Institutional Response Rates
• Survey Customization
• U.S. Respondent Profile
• Canadian Respondent Profile

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The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collects information from first-year and senior students about the characteristics and quality of their undergraduate experience. Since the inception of the survey, nearly 1,700 bachelor’s-granting colleges and universities in the United States and Canada have used it to measure the extent to which students engage in effective educational practices that are empirically linked with learning, personal development, and other desired outcomes such as persistence, satisfaction, and graduation.

NSSE data are used by faculty, administrators, researchers, and others for institutional improvement, public reporting, and related purposes. Launched in 2000 with the support of a generous grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, NSSE has been fully sustained through institutional participation fees since 2002. This document provides an overview of NSSE 2025, including administration details, response rates, participating institutions, and respondent characteristics.

NSSE changes in 2025 included updates to several Topical modules. Academic Advising, Experiences with Writing, First-Year Experiences & Senior Transitions, and Global Learning Experiences all received major modifications. Additionally, the Civic Engagement, Experiences with Online Learning, Inclusiveness & Engagement with Cultural Diversity modules had minor edits. No changes were made to the NSSE core items.

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

Survey Data and Methodology

Approximately 930,000 first-year and senior students from 395 institutions (382 in the US, 6 in Canada, and 7 in other countries) were invited to participate in NSSE 2025. Of this population, 179,484 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 369 institutions—364 in the US and 5 in Canada—that participated in NSSE 2025. Due to nonstandard details of their participation, 26 institutions are not represented. In these summary tables, and in the Institutional Report 2025, only data for census-administered and randomly sampled students are included. NSSE 2025 U.S. respondents profiled here include 89,393 first-year (51%) and 84,934 senior (49%) respondents.

U.S. Participating Institutions

NSSE 2025 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 2025 U.S. Institutions and Respondents and Bachelor’s-Granting U.S. Institutions and Their Students

Carnegie Basic Classification	NSSE Institutions %	U.S. Institutions %	NSSE Students %	U.S. Students %
Doctoral Universities (Very high research activity)	5	9	17	35
Doctoral Universities (High research activity)	10	8	18	17
Doctoral/Professional Universities	16	11	15	11
Master's Colleges and Universities (Larger programs)	25	20	29	23
Master's Colleges and Universities (Medium programs)	13	11	6	5
Master's Colleges and Universities (Smaller programs)	8	9	4	3
Baccalaureate Colleges—Arts & Sciences Focus	12	14	5	3
Baccalaureate Colleges—Diverse Fields	12	18	4	4

Control	NSSE Institutions %	U.S. Institutions %	NSSE Students %	U.S. Students %
Public	42	34	58	66
Private	58	66	42	35

Undergraduate Enrollment	NSSE Institutions %	U.S. Institutions %	NSSE Students %	U.S. Students %
Fewer than 1,000	13	25	3	3
1,000–2,499	32	31	13	9
2,500–4,999	23	16	16	10
5,000–9,999	18	14	22	18
10,000–19,999	7	7	16	19
20,000 or more	7	6	29	41

Region	NSSE Institutions %	U.S. Institutions %	NSSE Students %	U.S. Students %
New England	7	8	5	7
Mid East	16	17	11	15
Great Lakes	15	15	16	13
Plains	10	10	8	7
Southeast	27	26	26	25
Southwest	9	8	8	13
Rocky Mountains	3	3	12	7
Far West	11	11	13	13
Outlying Areas	1	2	1	1

Locale	NSSE Institutions %	U.S. Institutions %	NSSE Students %	U.S. Students %
City	44	49	55	63
Suburban	26	24	24	22
Town	25	20	20	13
Rural	4	8	1	2

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 2023 IPEDS Institutional Characteristics data. For information on the Basic Carnegie Classification, see carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu.

Institutional Response Rates

The average response rate for U.S. NSSE 2025 institutions was 25%, a two-point increase from last year. The highest response rate among U.S. institutions was 93%, and about 45% of institutions achieved a response rate of 25% or higher. Higher average response rates were observed for small-size institutions and at institutions that offered incentives for survey participation (Table 2).

Sixty-eight-percent of institutions chose to offer a survey incentive. On average, these institutions had a 27% institutional response rate, six percentage points higher than those who did not offer an incentive. Institutions also had the option to use their learning management system or student portal to recruit students. In 2025, 93 U.S. institutions chose this option, and the average share of respondents who accessed the survey this way was 32%.

Table 2: NSSE 2025 U.S. Participation and Response Rates by Undergraduate Enrollment and Use of Incentives

Undergraduate Enrollment	Number of Institutions	Average Institutional Response Rate (%)
2,500 or fewer	165	30
2,501 to 4,999	83	23
5,000 to 9,999	64	19
10,000 or more	52	18
All Institutions	364	25

Some institutions used recruitment incentives, such as small gifts or raffles, to encourage students to complete the survey.

Use of Incentives	Number of Institutions	Average Institutional Response Rate (%)
Offered incentives	247	27
No incentives	117	21
All Institutions	364	25

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 twelve modules available in 2025, the most widely adopted was Academic Advising (Table 4).

Selection of Additional Question Sets	Number of Institutions	Percentage of Institutions (%)
None	34	9
One module only	92	23
Two modules	229	58
Consortium items only	2	1
Consortium items plus one module	38	10

Notes: Includes U.S., Canadian, other international institutions, and institutions with nonstandard population files or administrations. Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding.

Topical Module	Number of Institutions	Percentage of Institutions (%)
Academic Advising	124	31
Career & Workforce Preparation	109	28
First-Year Experiences & Senior Transitions	105	27
Inclusiveness and Engagement with Cultural Diversity	62	16
Mental Health & Well-Being	56	14
HIP Quality	32	8
Experiences with Online Learning	23	6
Civic Engagement	20	5
Development of Transferable Skills	20	5
Experiences with Writing	15	4
Experiences with Information Literacy	14	4
Global Learning Experiences	8	2

Notes: Includes U.S., Canadian, other international institutions, and institutions with nonstandard population files or administrations. Percentages sum to more than 100 because many institutions selected two modules.

U.S. Respondent Profile

Table 5 displays selected demographic and enrollment characteristics of NSSE 2025 U.S. respondents alongside all U.S. bachelor’s degree-seeking students for comparison using IPEDS-defined institutional and student characteristics. NSSE reports use weights as appropriate to correct for disproportionate survey response related to institution-reported sex and enrollment status at each institution. Note that in 2023, NSSE included new and updated questions pertaining to student identities. These expanded items are presented and available in institution data files and reports.

Table 5: Characteristics of NSSE 2025 U.S. Respondents and Undergraduate Population at All U.S. Bachelor’s Degree-Granting Institution

Sex	NSSE Respondents (%)	U.S. Bachelor's-Granting Population (%)
Male	33	44
Female	66	56

NSSE percentages do not include students with “another” or “unknown” sex (1% of all respondents) or unknown race/ethnicity (6.1% of all respondents).

Race/Ethnicity	NSSE Respondents (%)	U.S. Bachelor's-Granting Population (%)
African American/Black	10	12
American Indian/Alaska Native	<1	<1
Asian	5	8
Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander	<1	<1
Caucasian/White	60	51
Hispanic/Latino/Latine	16	19
Multiracial/multiethnic	5	5
Foreign/nonresident	3	4

Enrollment Status	NSSE Respondents (%)	U.S. Bachelor's-Granting Population (%)
Full-time	90	84
Not full-time	10	16

Note: Percentages are unweighted and may not sum to 100 due to rounding. Institution-reported, using categories provided in IPEDS. The NSSE 2025 sampling frame consists of first-year and senior undergraduates. Data were provided by participating institutions. U.S. percentages are based on data from the 2022 IPEDS Institutional Characteristics and Enrollment data. Includes all class years.

Canadian Respondent Profile

Canadian respondents profiled here include 1,846 students (62% first-year, 38% senior) from 5 institutions in 3 provinces, including 2 institutions in Ontario, 2 in Alberta, and 1 in British Columbia. Female students and full-time students accounted for about 64% and 90% of Canadian respondents, respectively. The average response rate for Canadian NSSE 2025 institutions was 29%, with the highest response rate being 37%. 3 institutions achieved a response rate of 26% or higher. About 31% of Canadian respondents were at least 24 years old. A plurality of students providing ethnocultural information identified as Caucasian or White (53%), 13% multiracial, 11% South Asian, 5% Black, 4% Indigenous, and less than 2% from each of nine other categories.

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NSSE Administration Overview

NSSE 2025 Administration Overview

Survey Data and Methodology

U.S. Participating Institutions

Table 1: Profile of NSSE 2025 U.S. Institutions and Respondents and Bachelor’s-Granting U.S. Institutions and Their Students

Carnegie Basic Classification

Control

Undergraduate Enrollment

Region

Locale

Institutional Response Rates

Table 2: NSSE 2025 U.S. Participation and Response Rates by Undergraduate Enrollment and Use of Incentives

Undergraduate Enrollment

Use of Incentives

Survey Customization

Table 3: NSSE 2025 Participation in Additional Question Sets

Table 4: NSSE 2025 Participation in Topical Modules

U.S. Respondent Profile

Table 5: Characteristics of NSSE 2025 U.S. Respondents and Undergraduate Population at All U.S. Bachelor’s Degree-Granting Institution

Sex

Race/Ethnicity

Enrollment Status

Canadian Respondent Profile

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