Research Archive

COMPARATIVE ALUMNI STUDY (2000)

A task force, consisting of senior Lutheran college administrators, concluded that the best way to identify where Lutheran colleges fit in the higher education landscape was to survey alumni from all sectors of higher education, asking them to describe their undergraduate experiences and assess the extent to which their college experience contributed to skills and life outcomes.

In this presentation, the responses of Lutheran college graduates are compared to graduates of public flagship universities. Our interest in making this comparison was to discover whether the experiences and outcomes of students who attended smaller, undergraduate-focused, values-based Lutheran colleges differed in meaningful ways from those of graduates of large, research-focused public institutions.

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OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLASS OF 2007

Prepared by Dr. Ralph H. Wagoner and Dr. Richard Hanson

The authors analyzed data compiled by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. The information was collected as part of the annual CIRP study conducted by the Institute. Over 350,000 students who entered college in the fall of 2003 participated of which some 6897 were attending a Lutheran college or university.

The authors selected several cohort groups for comparison with special attention to those students attending a Lutheran college belonging to the Lutheran Educational Conference of North America and students attending major public and independent research institutions. Further analyses were conducted within the cohort attending a Lutheran institution.

The major points for discussion and analysis are:

• General demographics
• Issues of faith, religiousness and spirituality
• Why this college? Decision making
• Financial considerations and issues
• Final observations

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HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
REPORT TO LECNA 2001

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HERI-LECNA Freshman Analysis 2001:

LECNA commissioned a special report on the Lutheran college freshmen included in UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute's annual study. In this document, Ralph Wagoner, LECNA Executive Director, "toplines" the data.

HERI-LECNA Freshman Data 2001:

The raw data provided by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute on Lutheran college freshmen.

FALL 2003 STUDENT RESEARCH FINDINGS QUANTITATIVE STUDY

• The following charts comprise findings related to the student research study conducted for LECNA by Hardwick~Day.
• 916 high school students participated in a 20-minute telephone survey on various topics regarding the college consideration process. 613 juniors and 303 sophomores were interviewed.
• Participant names were obtained from Student Marketing Group, a student listing service. Selection criteria specified the students be college-bound and dictated a 50/50 gender split.
• An additional 200 Lutheran juniors were interviewed from lists obtained from ELCA and LCMS. The number of Lutheran students interviewed were proportionate to region of the country and Synod.
• Interviews were conducted during November 2003.
• Students were interviewed in the fall of their junior year of high school, with a smaller number of interviews conducted with sophomores as a means to gauge the timing of the college consideration and selection process.

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FALL 2003 STUDENT RESEARCH FINDINGS SUMMARY AND JUNE 2004 FOCUS GROUPS SUMMARY

The following charts comprise findings related to two different research projects conducted for LECNA by Hardwick-Day-

Fall 2003: national quantitative study in which 916 high school students participated in a 20-minute telephone survey on various topics regarding the college consideration process. 613 juniors and 303 sophomores were interviewed. An over sample of 200 Lutheran juniors were interviewed from lists obtained from ELCA and LCMS. The number of Lutheran students interviewed were proportionate to region of the country and Synod.

June 2004: a qualitative study consisting of five focus groups, four of which were student only sessions and a fifth for which the participants were parents of college bound high school students. In each of the groups, participant recruitment was structured to include both Lutherans and persons of other, or no, faith.

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