Residence Hall satisfaction surveys are out, and students should complete and turn the surveys in as soon as possible.

The Office of Housing and Dining and Residence Hall Association gave 1,300 surveys out to randomly selected students who live in residence halls. That’s about one-third of residence-hall dwellers.

The survey was e-mailed early this week, and as of Wednesday morning, 198 students already completed the survey.

The department usually receives around 40 percent, or about 500, of the surveys.

Mark Hudson, director of Housing and Dining, is sometimes nervous about survey time but not this year. More than 15 percent of surveys have already been returned.

The survey has about 160 questions, but it’s structured differently than the past few years. The survey is now online instead of in a book form, which made the survey technically longer, Hudson said.

Students selected for the survey were e-mailed during break then given a letter in their school mailboxes. Sometimes e-mails can show up as spam and are automatically sent to a separate spam folder, Hudson said. Students should check spam folders for the university-sent e-mail if they received a letter but no e-mail, he said.

The survey is anonymous other than the students’ years and residence halls. Students who do complete the survey will be entered in a drawing for bonus dining dollars.

The results will be released in February, after the survey results are tabulated and sent out to the supervisors of each residence hall.

Each hall adviser develops a strategy called an action plan to improve his or her hall.

“Those action plans are where the rubber hits the road,” Hudson said. “That’s where the students actually benefit.”

Advisers look at the trends in comments, such as desk hours, hall policies, maintenance and food. The action plan includes a way to improve the current situation.

The surveys are administered every other year, and the previous results are compared with the current results. Improvements are tracked from year to year, and results are printed and distributed to on-campus students.

It’s basic, with sections explaining what students liked and didn’t like, and how administration is going to make a change.

The implementation of the action plan helps the department of Housing and Dining better on-campus living situations each year, Hudson said.

It helps the department get the true opinion from a large sample-not just a few squeaky wheels.

“We try to do something about it,” Hudson said. “The university wants people to feel like they’re being served well, living on campus.”