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 2019 CSS can access their 2019 data and reports here. Preliminary Data File and Response Rate Reports now available:
Download 2019 Reports
Registration for the 2020 CSS is now closed! Administration was from November 25, 2019 to June 30, 2020.
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
Registration for the 2020 CSS is now open! Administration November 25, 2019 to June 30, 2020.
UPDATE 5/8/2020: We are not able to deliver CSS paper instruments at this time. We will reassess this possibility on June 1 and provide updates on the delivery of paper survey orders and the processing timeline for completed surveys. Alternatively, we are able to help you administer the survey online if you choose to do so.
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
- 2020 CSS (Paper Version)
- 2020 CSS (Web Version)
- 2020 CSS Changes
- Updated Majors List
- Updated Careers List
Important Forms and Documentation
2020 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
You can find the survey fees for your institution by searching on our pricing page.
Survey Fees
The combined survey administration and registration fee is calculated based on total full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate enrollment (for student surveys) or full-time faculty (faculty/staff survey) with information obtained from the IPEDS database on September 1, 2017. Click here to determine the cost for your institution: https://heri.ucla.edu/pricing/
Optional Costs
-Customized Welcome and Thank You Pages: no additional fee
-Additional questions for web administration – 20 closed-ended and/or 5 open-ended: $350
-Additional questions for paper administration – 20 closed-ended: no additional fee
-Group Codes: no additional fee
-HERI-managed email distribution to students: $375
-School-managed email distribution: no additional fee
Billing Policy
HERI uses a two-step process for billing. First, within two weeks of receiving an order to administer one of our surveys from an authorized campus representative, we will send an invoice to that representative or the designated billing contact requesting payment for a $1,000 registration deposit. This registration deposit will be credited toward the total administration cost. Should needs on campus change, please read below to review our cancellation policy.
Second, approximately six weeks before the national administration closes for the College Senior Survey, we will send a second invoice for the remaining balance associated with the survey administration, including any optional services requested during the administration period (i.e., HERI-managed emails, additional questions on web-based surveys).
The costs for administering HERI’s surveys cover customer service support from HERI’s staff throughout the administration process, the full suite of campus reports (i.e., Institutional Profile Report, Construct Report, Theme Report, Executive Summary PowerPoint), preparation of the final dataset, and targeted consultation to help clarify or explain the results featured in each set of reports.
We will continue to invoice separately for any orders for data services or customized reports placed by authorized campus representatives, and we typically send those invoices within two weeks of fulfilling each order. Additionally, for campuses that have more specific needs related to developing more tailored surveys, generating a more comprehensive, in-depth analysis of their survey data, or creating a more comprehensive assessment of campus climate, HERI staff members are available for more extensive consulting partnerships. Please contact us at heri@ucla.edu for more information.
*Expedited payment is helpful because UCLA charges additional fees after invoices become 90 days
past due. If there are delinquency fees on your account, your payment will be applied to these charges first. The unpaid balance on the account will remain past due and will continue to accrue additional delinquency fees. Balances which remain unpaid for several months risk going to collections.
Cancellation Policy
HERI will refund $800 of the $1,000 deposit if a campus informs HERI in writing of its decision to cancel the administration of the College Senior Survey by the cancellation cutoff date. HERI will refund $200 of the $1,000 deposit for orders cancelled after the respective cutoff date. If your institution has received paper surveys, survey links, or distributed links via HERI’s email system prior to attempting to cancel the order, please refer to the Withdrawal Policy.
Withdrawal Policy
For Web Administrations
If the URL(s) have already been sent to the institution or distributed via HERI’s email distribution service to the sample of intended survey participants, the campus will forfeit the full $1,000 registration deposit. In addition, if HERI has provided any customized services at your request (e.g., incorporated on-line additional questions, etc.), you will also be responsible for the full cost of these services.
For Paper Administrations
If questionnaires have been shipped to or received by the institution prior to canceling the order, the institution will forfeit the entire $1,000 registration deposit unless all questionnaires are returned completely intact to our processing center. Once the unused questionnaires have been received and verified at our processing center, the campus will be entitled to a partial refund of its $1,000 registration deposit ($800 prior to the cutoff date and $200 if received after the cutoff date).
Registration for the 2020 CSS is now closed! Administration was from November 25, 2019 to June 30, 2020.