In compliance with Senate Bill 1563 of the 76^th Texas Legislative Session, we submit this report on the results of a survey of student satisfaction with services provided by Texas State University-San Marcos.  The survey began in March 2004 with an inventory of customers and was finished in April 2004.

Inventory of Customers:

Texas State University-San Marcos has customers under the following services listed in strategies and special items of the 2004-05 General Appropriations Act:

1. Education – 26,306 students who are our primary customers.
2. The Long Term Care Institute has a mission “to improve the quality of life for Elders and their caregivers.”  A few hundred customers are in this category.
3. The Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center (EARDC) was “established in 1979 by special funding to provide a public service in the study, understanding and use of the very fragile natural resource, the Edwards Aquifer.  Seminars and Workshops are held to promote water education and conservation. The Center also provides analysis of water samples to more than 100 customers annually.”

Information Gathering Method:

            A web-based questionnaire (see Attachment 1) was chosen to be the most efficient way to reach our primary customer group (i.e., students).  The survey was patterned after a sample questionnaire developed by the University of Texas at Austin.  E-mail was sent to 2,500 students, inviting them to complete the questionnaire.  As directed by the Legislative Budget Board guidelines that “institutions may consider excluding special item strategies for which customers are not easily identified or relevant in assessing customer service quality”, we did not try to survey customers of the Long Term Care Institute or Edwards Aquifer Research & Data Center. 
          The questionnaire was distributed in mid-March of 2004.  Students were allowed to respond through the middle of April 2004. Of the 2,500 students who were notified by e-mail, 653 (26%) responded.  The responses received were far in excess of the 380 recommended by Krejcie and Morgan (1970) and SPSS, Inc. (1994) for 95% + 5% confidence (i.e., 5% error) in making inferences about a student population of 25,000.  The web survey was an economical way to reach our primary customers (i.e., students) and should result in higher future responses as more students make use of e-mail. 

Customer-Determined Service Quality

            Females and ethnic minorities are slightly over-represented among 653 survey respondents: 66% were female; 67% were White; 17% Hispanic; 5% African-American; and 59% were under 23 years old.  The entire student population is 57% female, 72% White, 19% Hispanic, 5% African-American, and 55% under 23 years old. 
          Students who responded to the survey are generally satisfied with services at Texas State University-San Marcos. Greater than 70% of respondents are satisfied with services in 20 of 24 satisfaction/dissatisfaction items covered by the survey. Similarly, over 70% of respondents agreed that services in 12 of 15 agreement/disagreement items were satisfactory.  The rating of overall quality was 3.00 on a scale of 1.00 to 4.00 with a mid-point of 2.50 being the satisfaction threshold (see Table 2).
          Parking is the only area where a rating is significantly below the satisfaction threshold, with a mean of 2.22 + .08 as the 95% confidence interval.  Borderline areas where over 30% of respondents are “dissatisfied” with services are Paws Preview (an orientation program), food services, residence halls, and parking (see Table 2).  Getting the run-around, knowing how to complain, and getting a prompt response to complaints are areas where over 30% of the survey respondents also “disagreed” that services were satisfactory (see Table 3).
          One hundred and seventy respondents gave recommendations for improving overall quality of services at Texas State University-San Marcos. Frequent comments focused on a need for more parking and improved food services.

Table 1.  Standard Customer Service Performance Measures

Outcome measures:

Percent of respondents who express overall satisfaction with services: 81%

Percent of respondents who identify ways to improve service delivery: 26%

Output measures:

Number of customers surveyed:      2,500 students.

Number of customers served:  26,306 students.

Efficiency measures:

Cost per customer surveyed:  Only staff time to send survey and write a report.

Explanatory measures:

Number of customers identified: 26,654 (26,306 students, 300 customers of Long Term Care Institute, 48 customers of Edwards Aquifer Research & Data Center.)

Number of customer groups inventoried: 3

Table 2.  Mean Ratings of Customer Satisfaction

* This is the total number of responses, which includes multiple responses by students to various offices.

Table 3.  Mean Ratings of Customer Agreement

Analysis of Findings

          The cost of administering this survey consisted only of the staff time required to distribute it via e-mail and compile this report. This was about 8 hours for a cost of roughly $300 for the questionnaire distribution and report writing. This is below the cost of mailing surveys to the 2,100 or more students we would normally contact to get 653 responses at a 30% response rate that is typical for our paper surveys. Furthermore, direct entry of responses into a database saved time and prevented data-entry errors.
          Unfortunately, a response rate of 26% (see Table 1), though better than the 18% response rate of 2 years ago, is lower than the response rate we would like to achieve.   Achieving a higher response, so results are more representative of the wide continuum of student opinion, will be a high priority of the next survey cycle.
          Areas of strength. Ninety percent or more of survey respondents are satisfied (see Table 2) with Fine Arts events (96%), Library Services (94%), Social Activities (93%), Cashier Services (93%), Computer Services (92%), Recreation (91%), and Testing & Evaluation (91%).  A tradition of high-quality performing arts events, new library equipment, a well-established social atmosphere, campus recreation’s quality facilities and programs, and increased emphasis on modernizing the computer equipment we use are probably factors in the high ratings achieved in these areas.  At least 80% of students are satisfied with Academic Advising (88%), Career Planning (88%), Health Services (88%), Registration (86%), Personal Counseling (85%), Orientation (83%), and NCAA Events (81%).
          Ninety percent or more of respondents (see Table 3) agree the campus is safe (96%), brochures are adequate (94%), the campus is well maintained (92%), employees are knowledgeable (92%), library facilities are adequate (91%), and employees are courteous (90%).  Over eighty percent of students say signs are clear (84%), the web site is accessible (84%), office hours are convenient (83%), and employees are prompt (81%). These ratings make sense in light of extra efforts to install emergency call boxes and establish a strong police presence in the middle of campus; the reputation of Texas State University-San Marcos for being a friendly place, the campus signage project, the focus on updating computer equipment, and the redesign of the university web site.
          Areas with adequate scores.  Student Employment (77%), Police Services (76%), Student Learning Assistance Center (74%), Shuttle Bus (74%), Telephone Answering (74%), Fair Responses to Complaints (74%), and Job Placement (71%) have satisfactory ratings.  The busing and police ratings may be influenced by parking and traffic problems at Texas State University-San Marcos, which are being addressed in the current campus master planning cycle.  Student employment and job placement are adversely affected by the downturn in the economy, but both of these areas improved since the last survey (see below).  Only one service, the NCAA events with a 81% satisfaction level, has a rating that declined over 3% in comparison to the survey results of two years ago.  And, 3% to 5% declines are not considered meaningful.  Professional development efforts, such as customer service workshops, have improved employee performance.  Furthermore, marketing efforts have been enhanced since the university name change to promote a consistent image in publications and brochures. 
          Areas of recent improvement.  Offices with average ratings that improved by 10% or more from the 2002 survey are Career Planning (from 2.76 to 3.16), Job Placement (from 2.50 to 2.84), Student Employment (from 2.71 to 3.09), Paws Preview (from 2.55 to 2.81), Registration (2.76 to 3.09), and Police Services (2.49 to 2.93).  Automation of registration to allow both web-based and telephone registration, and continuous efforts to assess and improve student services has contributed to these improvements.
          Financial Aid services has been an area of some dissatisfaction for students in the past, but remodeling and restructuring of that office resulted in 76% of respondents being satisfied with Financial Aid services in this year's survey (see Table 2).  By comparison, only 60% of respondents were satisfied with Financial Aid in a 1996 study of freshmen satisfaction using the American College Testing (ACT) Student Opinion Survey.  New financial and student information systems that are currently being installed should help to further improve services in this office.
          Food service is a perennial area of dissatisfaction at college campuses, and continues to be an area of some dissatisfaction at Texas State University-San Marcos, with only 62% of respondents satisfied.  However, in a 1996 study using the ACT Student Opinion Survey, only 39% of freshman respondents were satisfied with food services.  The improvement may be related to external food vendors like Pizza Hut and Chick-Fil-A opening operations on campus, so students now have many alternatives to traditional cafeteria foods.  Improved dining facilities now being renovated should contribute to further improvements in this area.
           Areas needing improvement. Parking, the service rated lowest with 58% of students reporting dissatisfaction (see Table 2), is a perennial area of dissatisfaction at college campuses.  Students expect to park adjacent to their classroom buildings and residence halls, and that is not possible given the physical layout and enrollment of this campus.  While most residential students can be accommodated with parking nearby their residence halls, Texas State has adopted a "park-and-ride" model to provide parking services to the majority of local and commuter students.  Students park in remote lots and ride buses to and from campus.  Though adequate parking exists to serve current enrollment, the lots are not necessarily located in students' preferred locations. Enrollment growth has strained the capacity of the shuttle bus system, so students may encounter some buses filled to capacity at peak times.  A study of parking and transportation was completed recently, and many recommendations have already been implemented on campus.  Improvements to the parking and shuttle bus services will continue to be made as necessary and funds allow.
          Residence halls are an area of concern for 32% of students.  Remodeling is underway to modernize and improve the condition of aging facilities. Updates in the residence hall facilities and construction of new apartment complexes in San Marcos are both expected to contribute to higher student satisfaction with local housing. Two new privatized housing projects were recently completed with space for more than 1,000 students in state-of-the-art facilities, which may explain a slight improvement in the ratings from 35% dissatisfaction two years ago.
          Paws Preview, with which 31% of students are dissatisfied, is a required program designed to introduce new freshmen to the Texas State University-San Marcos campus and is not applicable to many of the survey respondents. This program is undergoing redesign in an attempt to improve student preparation for the first day of classes and increase retention rates.  Regular opportunities exist for students to provide suggestions for improving all the Texas State orientation programs, and this information is used in planning future activities.
          The last areas of dissatisfaction for Texas State University-San Marcos students pertain to getting the “run-around” (34%), not knowing how to complain (49%), and not getting a prompt response to complaints (30%).  There has been improvement in two of these areas from 2002, when 42% of students felt they got the runaround and 39% did not get a prompt response to complaints, but these remain areas of concern.  Although signage has improved to help students get where they are going, the use of automated phone systems in some front offices has made it more difficult for students to get in touch with people. Furthermore, while a link to the "Compact with Texans" is available on the home page, more effort should be made to advertise this information to students.  We need to do more to teach students how to complain when services do not meet their expectations, and additional improvement is needed for following up on complaints.

Contact information for customer relations representative

Mr. Vincent E. Morton, Assistant Dean of Students
Texas State University-San Marcos
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666

Attachment 1. Original Survey Instrument