Date of Award
5-1-1988
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Advisor
Barton R. Herrscher
Abstract
Texas State Technical Institute (TSTI) offers different student services programs on each of its four campuses. The system administration recognized this inconsistency between the campuses and became concerned that the offerings of these services may not be meeting the needs of the student bodies of these campuses. As the result, the acting president of the TSTI system administration identified the need for and requested that a study be conducted. A needs analysis of student services programs for TSTI was conducted to show the services currently being provided to students, to determine those services that should be provided, and to determine the difference between these services necessary to meet the needs of all students on TSTI campuses. During the spring quarter of the 1987-88 school year, students were selected at random from sections of general education courses--Composition I and Intermediate Algebra--common on each TSTI campus. The random selection was based on the intention of surveying approximately 100 students on a voluntary basis on each of the four campuses. Of the 398 students enrolled in the 19 sections selected as a sample for the study from all four campuses, a total of 285 (71.6%) students participated in the study. The deans/directors surveyed in the study consisted of the deans of student services on each of the four TSTI campuses and those from a selected sample of thirty two-year, public colleges from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The two-year colleges were selected according to their similarity to TSTI--residential, coeducational colleges that offer vocational-technical courses, receive state funds, and grant terminal associate degree. From the two-year college sample, a total of 22 (73.3%) deans responded to the study. With all four of the TSTI deans and the 22 deans from the other participating colleges, a total of 26 (76.4%) out of the possible 34 deans participated in the study. Two questionnaires containing a listing of 56 services were developed to survey both the dean and student samples in the study. The services listed on each instrument were identical. However, students were asked to indicate whether TSTI should provide the service or not; deans were asked to indicate whether the service was provided or should be provided on their campus. In addition, both samples were asked to assign a value to each service as they perceived its importance to meet student needs. Both samples were requested to record their responses on a separate answer sheet for electronic processing. An ad hoc committee was selected to assist in the study. Interviews were conducted with the dean of student services on each of the four main TSTI campuses to obtain existing campus information. A questionnaire was administered to each dean at the completion of the interview. Each dean from the two-year comparable colleges was mailed a questionnaire, answer sheet, and return envelop along with a cover letter. A tracking sheet was maintained on the responses, and each nonresponding dean in the sample was mailed one to two additional follow-up letters along with another copy of the questionnaire and answer sheet. For reporting purposes, the services on the questionnaires were divided into five categories of functions --major college, educational, vocational, social, personal, and other supporting services. The findings of this study revealed that services in the vocational, personal, and other supporting service functions were considered more important to meet the needs of students than the services in the major college and educational areas. The results of the needs reported by the deans, however, indicated they perceived the services in the major college and educational functions areas to be more important to meet student needs. Students rated financial aid the most important service in the major college functions and tutoring the most important of the educational services. Only four services listed in the survey were responded to by all 285 participating students--graduation, financial aid, credit for out-of-college experience, and job placement. Both sample groups agreed on the importance of five of the services to students--library, parking, financial aid, bookstore, and business office services. Of the remaining five services ranked in the top ten, however, students placed a greater importance on job placement, campus security, housing, copying machine, and food services than the deans; the deans placed a greater value on evening classes, admissions, recordkeeping, academic advisement/counseling, and recruitment. Of the other services in the survey, students ranked weekend classes as the least important while deans ranked transportation to/from class as the least important. The overall findings of the study revealed that, even though it is providing some services to meet student needs that do not exist, TSTI is providing the majority of the services required to meet the needs of the students. Only two services reported by students in the top ten--financial aid and job placement--are provided by the student services division on any of the TSTI campuses while the remaining services are provided by the other divisions on each of the four TSTI campuses. The findings did not identify a defined model student services program; therefore, the study reinforced the fact that each institution needs to develop a model to meet its own needs. Recommendations made as the result of this study were the TSTI system president require the administration of each campus to implement an annual evaluation procedure to be conducted on a systematic basis which would allow students to evaluate those existing services provided by every division on the campus and the quality of performance in which those services aze provided; the TSTI system president require the administration of every campus to implement an annual needs assessment to be conducted on a systematic basis which would determine the needs, of the existing student population on the campus and permit the administration to retain, consolidate, or curtail programs on the basis of their contribution to student needs; the TSTI system president require the administration of every campus to conduct a needs assessment of its local community to determine the wants and needs of the people within its service area; the TSTI system president implement the proposed student services model--as identified and developed by the committee through the results of the study--on one campus for a trial basis of one year and--if the model proves feasible economically and in concept--a management guideline be developed to support the implementation of the proposed model on all the TSTI campuses; and the TSTI system president present the proposed policy and procedure to each campus administration to assist in the implementation of this proposed model student services program on the campus if the proposed model is approved and accepted by the system administration.