A Quick Guide to GFU’s Thriving Survey
Reported By: Benny Schorie
Illustrated By: Sydney Simmons
In the fall, George Fox University (GFU) sent out a survey for students to complete on behalf of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and the creation of their Thriving Quotient. According to their website, the CCCU is a global association whose “mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help our institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.” The results, including those for GFU’s student body, were sent to students on Feb. 5.
According to its website, The Thriving Quotient was developed with the Collaborative Assessment Project (CAP) to identify “the elements of your campus that can enable more of your students to engage academically, interpersonally, and psychologically in the college experience and thrive.”
The website said the CAP uses “predictors of thriving, including campus involvement, student-faculty interaction, spirituality, institutional integrity, and sense of community on campus are also assessed,” and the CCCU has added items “to further assess spiritual development.”
In most areas, GFU’s average showed higher dissatisfaction than the national average, and most had a higher standard deviation, meaning there is less student consensus on each item at GFU than the national average. However, this could be caused by the smaller sample size at GFU (415 responses) versus the national sample size (10,087 responses).
The items marked with a statistically significant difference at GFU were academic determination, social connectedness, diverse citizenship, psychological sense of community, spiritual formation, and overall levels of satisfaction. GFU’s responses to a question determining overall levels of thriving displayed a more significant negative skew than the national average. The section highlighting race/ethnic response differences showed students of color have worse experiences with social connectedness and institutional/faculty integrity. A section determining demographic differences revealed GFU has more racial/ethnic and gender diversity, as well as more LGBTQ+ identified students than the national averages.
The survey provided recommended action steps based on the comparison of GFU’s mean responses to the national means. According to this section, GFU’s student sample “is less satisfied with the institution and appears to be experiencing physical and mental health challenges.”
In the results, the CCCU said, “They are not as engaged in learning, express lower levels of confidence and goal-directedness, appear to be challenged in developing quality friendships, and are dissatisfied with their peers at this institution.” Their top recommendation is for GFU to focus on the campus’s sense of community and becoming more inclusive.
According to the survey, administrative changes will need to happen to support students’ sense of belonging, security in their contributions to the community and broader world, emotional relationships with peers, and synergy when working on larger issues.