Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI)

The main part of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory consists of 45 items where the respondent rates both the importance of the item (ranging from “1 – Not important at all” to “7 – Very important”) and their level of satisfaction with the item (ranging from “1 – Not satisfied at all” to “7 – Very satisfied”).  For descriptions of the nine SSI scales, click here.

The survey was completed during the Spring 2015 semester by 606 Nicholls students, with results compared to 24,877 students at four-year public universities across the U.S. that completed the survey within the past three academic year. Results from both groups will be discussed below:

 SSI “low satisfaction” items:

On three items, Nicholls respondents reported significantly lower scores (at the .05 level) than national respondents.  Click here to see a graph showing the percent of Nicholls and national students that were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” on those items.

 SSI “high satisfaction” items:

On nine items, Nicholls respondents reported significantly higher scores (at the .001 level) than national respondents.  Click here to see a graph showing mean scores on these items for Nicholls, and national respondents.

SSI enrolling importance items:

The SSI also includes eight items asking respondents to rate the importance of various factors (e.g., cost, academic reputation, campus visits, etc.) on their decision to attend their current institution. To see the percentage of Nicholls and national students responding “important” or “very important” on these factors, click here.

SSI summary items:

At the conclusion of the survey are three “summary items” that attempt to measure the respondent’s overall satisfaction with their college experience.  To see breakouts on these items for Nicholls, and national respondents, click here.

Non-response by Nicholls students on SSI items:

On average, 5.8% of Nicholls respondents left an SSI item blank or check “does not apply”.  To see a non-response breakout for each SSI item, click here.

SSI quadrant graphs:

These quadrant graphs plot the importance and satisfaction mean scores on each SSI item for Nicholls and national respondents.  The numbers in the graphs correspond with the number on the SSI sample form above, and the number colors correspond to the chart included in the first workbook of the attachment.  The average satisfaction and importance scale scores for all items are indicated by the dashed line in the graph (horizontal line for satisfaction and vertical line for importance).  For example, item #21 on the Nicholls graph (“My academic advisor is knowledgeable about requirement in my major”) in the right front quadrant is above the Nicholls averages for both satisfaction and importance. To see these graphs, click here. (Note: Some items are included in more than one scale.  These items will appear in the graphs in the color of only one scale, not with multiple colors for multiple scales.)