Ivy Tech joins Indiana schools in graduate survey to measure student satisfaction

Wilson said the data gathered from the surveys would focus on qualitative answers, such as the long-term health benefits of specific practices on campus.

“Those are the kinds of measures that we really haven’t been able to include in any comprehensive way in the past,” said Wilson. “The more colleges we have on board, the more complete picture we’ll be able to give students and their families.”

The qualitative data from the survey will combine with return on investment information, such as salary data, that the ICHE already collects. Together, the data will be used in the Indiana College Value Index in 2016, with the goal of helping perspective students choose the right college for them.

The survey, which will be conducted by Gallup, was inspired by a partnership between Gallup and Purdue University. The most recent Gallup-Purdue Index was made by surveying more than 29,000 alumni from across the U.S. and was published several months ago. According to its website, the index focuses on the question, “Is college worth it?”

Some data showed things like the importance of student/mentor relationships during college. According to the report, for example, “If employed graduates strongly agree that they had professors who cared about them as people, they had at least one professor who made them excited about learning and they had a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams, their odds of being engaged at work nearly double.”

A $500,000 USA Funds grant will provide a 50 percent subsidy of the cost for participating public institutions. The grant from USA Funds is one of four given to organizations with the overarching goal of developing new models to measure the value of postsecondary education.