Meeting the Challenge: - The Council of Independent Colleges

Serving Students Well: Independent Colleges Today
Similarly, independent colleges and universities
instill in their students a sense of community and social
responsibility. Alumni of independent institutions are more
likely than their public-college counterparts to work in
nonprofit and education organizations and to participate in
volunteer and community service activities.
CIC member institutions also share a commitment
to providing students with a supportive environment—and
that produces academic success. More than 70 percent of
students at independent colleges graduate in four years, a rate
that is 20 percentage points higher than the average at public
institutions. Students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds,
as well as undergraduates considered at risk, have higher
graduation rates at independent than at public institutions.
A major part of this academic success can be
attributed to close interaction between students and
faculty. Michael McPherson, president of the Spencer
Foundation and a nationally recognized expert on American
higher education, says that the collective definition of
excellence for CIC institutions is “outstanding personalized
undergraduate education.”
That observation is verified in the data compiled
by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).
Since it was launched in 2000, NSSE has examined student
engagement on almost a thousand American campuses.
George Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor at Indiana University
and director of NSSE, says that, like the independent sector
in general, CIC institutions excel in four of the five major
clusters of activity that NSSE examines: supportive campus
climate, faculty student interaction, active and collaborative
learning, and an enriching educational experience. All
of these factors, according to researchers, are linked to
undergraduate success.
At independent institutions, Kuh observes, students
are more likely to say that they have positive relations with
the faculty. “Undergraduate teaching,” he points out, “is the
predominant mission of these institutions.” A number of
CIC members—Sweet Briar College in Virginia, Wabash
College in Indiana, Wheaton College in Massachusetts,
Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, the University of the
South in Tennessee, Wofford College in South Carolina,
and Alverno College in Wisconsin—are among a group of
colleges and universities that Kuh and the other authors of
Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter
(2005) recently identified as doing an exemplary job of
educating undergraduates.
The smaller size of many private institutions, says
Kuh, “creates all sorts of educational opportunities” because
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