College Senior Survey

The College Senior Survey (CSS) connects academic, civic, and diversity outcomes with a comprehensive set of college experiences to measure the impact of college. Although the CSS can be used as a stand-alone instrument, when used in conjunction with the CIRP Freshman Survey (TFS), the Diverse Learning Environments Survey (DLE), or the Your First College Year Survey (YFCY), the CSS generates valuable longitudinal data on students’ cognitive and affective growth during college.

Participating Institutions – Download your Reports:
Institutions who participated in the 2017 CSS can access their 2017 data and reports here. Preliminary Data File and Response Rate Reports now available:

Download 2017 Reports

2018 CSS Registration is Now Open. Administration November 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.

About the College Senior Survey

The College Senior Survey is designed as an exit survey for graduating seniors. The CSS focuses on a broad range of college outcomes and post-college goals and plans including:

academic achievement and engagement
student-faculty interaction
cognitive and affective development
student goals and values
satisfaction with the college experience
degree aspirations and career plans
post-college plans

Schools participating in the CSS receive an institutional profile, which includes your institutional results broken out by sex, full and part-time status, comparisons with other similar institutions, significance testing, effect sizes, CIRP Constructs and Theme reports, and a data file of your student responses.

Schools using the CSS as a post-test to the TFS, YFCY, or DLE will also receive a Longitudinal Profile, which can be used to assess growth and change over time.

Administering the CSS

CSS is open for Registration. 2018 CSS can be administered anytime between November 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018.

The Paper Survey
The paper survey can be administered in the classroom, a group setting, or as a mail-out survey. The most successful administration of the CSS is in large group settings, such as a graduation rehearsal. You select the delivery date and the number of questionnaires needed.

The Web Survey
The web survey can be administered either with your campus managing the email notification process, or for ease of use, you can elect to have HERI manage the email notifications to students. Our web portal allows you to set email notification and reminder dates, customize “welcome” and “thank you” pages, customize email notifications, and upload your additional questions. Throughout the administration, you can monitor your response rates in real time. Your survey data updates in real time, so you can download your preliminary data file at any point to analyze early responses.

The Survey Instrument

2018 CSS (Paper Version)
2018 CSS (Web Version)
2018 CSS Changes
Updated Majors List
Updated Careers List

Important Forms and Documentation

2018 CSS

Administration Guidelines – Necessary information for schools concerning the administration of the College Senior Survey
Administration Timeline – Use the timeline to track the general tasks required during a survey cycle
Survey Information Sheet Copy of the informed consent given to survey respondents
Student Identifiers – Find out how student identifiers can help you merge data for longitudinal analyses
Additional Questions – Important information for campuses adding their own questions to the instrument
School Managed Distribution – Instructions for sending your email invitations directly from your institution
Invitation and Reminder Templates – Sample text for inviting your students to participate
Welcome and Thank You text – Editable text for your welcome and thank you survey pages
Mailing List – Sample file for uploading student names/email addresses
Anti-Spam Guidelines – How to prevent survey invitation and reminders from CIRP being filtered out as bulk or junk email
Group Codes – Comparing specific subgroups of your student sample
Confidentiality and Privacy – Protocol for ensuring the confidentiality and privacy of our data and suggestions about how you assure your students that their information is safe
Encouraging Participation – Suggestions for increasing response rates
Promo Pack – Instructions on how to use Promo Packs
Pre-notification Email Templates – Editable text for your pre-notification emails
Data and Reporting – Description of the institutional data and reporting institutions will receive from CIRP
Shipping Form Instructions for shipping your completed paper surveys to our processing center
UCLA IRB Approval Notice – Copy of the current UCLA IRB approval for the CSS

Survey Fees

Please contact us at heri@ucla.edu or 310-825-1925 for survey pricing information for your institution.