National Survey of Student Engagement

NSSE Survey & 2021 Results


Learn more about the 2021 results from YSU students:

If you'd like to request custom data or access to the online institutional report builder, please contact atkaufman@ysu.edu. Faculty, Staff, & Current YSU Students: Using your YSU credentials, log in to the OneDrive folder to access survey data and reports.

NSSE Spring Lunch & Learn Data Conversation series

All campus stakeholders were invited to focused Lunch & Learn: Data Conversations. 

  • What does the NSSE measure?

    The NSSE (pronounced “Nessie”) measures student experiences in practices known to positively impact student engagement, retention, and success. The survey has ten “Engagement Indicator” scales which are organized into four theme areas. More information on Engagement Indicators.

    If you have any questions about the survey, how to access the survey, or how YSU uses the results -- please contact Alison Kaufman at atkaufman@ysu.edu.  View past reports below. You can also visit the official NSSE site for information on how the survey data is used across the United States and Canada.

    Prior Years' Data

  • How many students responded to the NSSE?

    All first-year and senior YSU students were invited to participate in the NSSE. 

    • First-Year Students: 613 responses (29% response rate)
    • Senior Students: 553 responses (26% response rate)
  • How confident can I be in the results?

    The sampling error for YSU respondents is +/-3.3% for first-year students and +/-3.6% for senior students. Sampling error (or margin of error) is an estimate of the margin by which the true score for your institution on a given item could differ from the reported score. To interpret the sampling error, assume that 60% of students reply “very often” to a particular item. If the sampling error is +/-5%, then the true population value is most likely between 55% and 65%

  • Who are our peer institutions? 

    A distance analysis was initially conducted for the 2016 NSSE and updated in 2021 to identify schools most similar to YSU, 18 of those institutions participated in the NSSE. These institutions were chosen as “peers” using a distance analysis with a set of input variables, such as Carnegie classification, part-time enrollment percentage, ACT scores of incoming students, living on-campus percentage, and percentage of budget spent on research. “Peer Institutions” are used for making comparisons and benchmarking.

    2021 NSSE Peer Institutions

    • Augusta University (Augusta, GA)
    • Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, TN)
    • California State Polytechnic University-Pomona (Pomona, CA)
    • California State University, Chico (Chico, CA)
    • California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento, CA)
    • Cleveland State University (Cleveland, OH)
    • Emporia State University (Emporia, KS)
    • McNeese State University (Lake Charles, LA)
    • Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN)
    • Minnesota State University, Mankato (Mankato, MN)
    • Purdue University Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne, IN)
    • San Francisco State University (San Francisco, CA)
    • Southeastern Louisiana University (Hammond, LA)
    • University of Central Oklahoma (Edmond, OK)
    • University of Colorado Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs, CO)
    • University of Memphis (Memphis, TN)
    • University of Southern Maine (Portland, ME)
    • The University of Toledo (Toledo, OH)