In 2014, the Gallup-Purdue Index polled 30,000 adults with Bachelor’s Degrees. They asked these graduates about what they termed “support” and “experiential” factors, each relevant to what the student experienced at college. These factors were referred to as the “Big Six,” as they connected to how graduates believed their collegiate experiences prepared them for life.
The questions and responses are summarized in the following table:
| Support Factors | Experiential Factors | |||||||
| Had a professor who excited me about learning
63% |
Professors cared about me
27% |
Had an encouraging mentor
22% |
Had a
long-term project 32% |
Had a relevant internship
29% |
Active in college activities
20% |
|||
| # who agreed with all three: 14% | # who agreed with all three: 6% | |||||||
| Number of respondents who agreed with all six statements: 3% | ||||||||
These responses collectively demonstrate a disappointingly low level of agreement that important support and experiential factors are present at college. The data should be interpreted as another call to rework higher education to better serve its constituency.
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