Original motivation to enroll

Students were asked what motivated them to enroll at UH. Of the 496 respondents, students identified location, reputation, and program offerings as the top three reasons for choosing UH:

Students were also given a chance to provide open ended responses to this question. We analyzed the open ended responses by tabulating the words they used11 We excluded common English stop words like articles of speech (e.g., and, the, of) and stemmed words so that we count words like “finances”, “financial”, “financially” into their root word financi. to a get a sense of what themes emerged from their responses:

Primary reason for stopping

Students cited financial, academic performance, and personal reasons for stopping their enrollment. White respondents cited personal reasons (24%), African-American students cited financial reasons, and Asian respondents cited academic performance as their primary reasons for stopping (25%).

Twenty-four percent of respondents selected “Other” as their reason for stopping their enrollment at UH right after financial reasons. There were many reasons listed in the open-ended responses. Some common reasons include class offerings, other schools that accept transfer credits, specific programs offered at other schools (BSN), advisor availability, and personal reasons including mental health, death, relocation, commute, and other medical reasons. The following show the most commonly cited reasons and examples of those reasons:

Satisfaction with UH

Generally, respondents had mixed feeling with their overall experience at UH. Overall, 48% indicated they were satisfied and 39% were dissatisfied with their experience at UH. More respondents were detractors (less likely to recommend UH to others) than promoters (likely to recommend UH to others). Out-of-state respondents (50%) were statistically more likely to recommend/promote UH to other people than in-state (23%) or international respondents (14%).

Respondents were most satisfied with UH’s respect for diversity (73% somewhat/completely satisfied), quality of technology (67%), and quality of instruction (61%).22 Survey question asked students to rate their satisfaction level with aspects of UH with choices for completely dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, somewhat satisfied, and completely satisfied. Academic support services, academic advising, financial aid, and career coaching are potential areas for improvement as respondents reported being least satisfied with these aspects of their UH experience.

Improving UH Experience

More than half of respondents reported that a lower cost of attendance (62%) would improve their experience. Other ways in which UH might improve respondents’ experience include improving academic support services (36%), improving faculty interaction with students (35%), providing greater scheduling flexibility (34%), and improving student support services (34%). Overall, this finding is consistent with previous findings on respondents’ reasons for stopping enrollment and satisfaction with UH offices.

Open ended responses to this question identified parking, program requirements, advising, and smaller classes as additional areas to improve student experience.

Actions After Leaving

After leaving UH, respondents typically enrolled at another institution (36%) or started working full-time (21%). Graduate respondents were statistically more likely to report no plans to enroll than undergraduate respondents (40% vs. 23%), first generation respondents were more likely to report not being sure about future enrollment than non-first generation respondents (35% vs. 17%), and Hispanic respondents were more likely to report not being sure about future enrollment than White and African American respondents (37% vs. 23%, vs. 18%).

Respondents were asked to indicate which schools they enrolled or planned to enroll after leaving UH. Eighteen percent indicated they planned to re-enroll at UH. After UH, respondents indicated they enrolled or planned to enroll at Houston Community College (8%), UH-Downtown (8%), Lone Star Community College (7%), and San Jacinto Community College (5%).

When choosing to enroll in other institutions, respondents cited affordability (48%), specific program offering (44%), and location (40%) as their primary reasons.

Connectedness at UH

In general, respondents did not feel connected with UH while enrolled. Only 24% report feeling very/extremely connected while enrolled, while 33% were not at all connected. Interestingly, out-of- state and international respondents were significantly more likely to report being very/extremely connected with UH while enrolled than in-state respondents.

Respondents reported that having friends who also enrolled at UH helped them feel connected to the institution (69%), along with extracurricular activities (38%), attending sporting events (27%), and particular faculty members or staff (23%). These options were commonly the top selected options across all segments. These findings suggest that emphasizing positive social engagement among students and with faculty members should promote feelings of connectedness to UH.

Open ended responses reinforced the importance of friends as important for feeling connected to UH. Respondents also identified Houston, diversity, and family as other important factors that helped them feel connected at UH.

Nearly half of respondents reported that having friends, working more closely with faculty members, and participating in more extracurricular activities would have helped them feel more connected to UH. UH should consider ways to promote connections among students and extracurricular activities (e.g., an extended freshman orientation, fairs for club and extracurricular activity recruitment). UH should also consider ways to proactively foster connections between students and faculty (e.g., encourage student participation in research laboratories).