A new residence life student survey was sent out to a sample size of about 2,000 students on March 23 by the housing and dining services office.

Kelly Miller, the assistant director of housing and dining services, said the difference between this survey and others they have done in the past is that this survey has a new type of focus on all areas of housing.

“We really focus on our current residents but with this, we can expand our range of information with off-campus residents,” Miller said. “We will also gain information from current and former RAs and how they think the position added to their educational experience and leadership opportunities.”

The survey is a part of the National Association of Personnel Administrators Assessment and Knowledge Consortium.

The consortium allows campuses to purchase an annual subscription to have access to different types of surveys such as residence life, fraternity and sorority life, campus recreation and others.

Mark Hudson, the director of housing and dining, said this survey is provided for free this semester because he and assistant director of housing Josh Lawrie served on a committee to help develop the survey with how to structure it and what questions to incorporate.

“This is a brand new survey and since we helped with the development of it, we were able to try it out and see what types of new information from students we could get from it,” Hudson said. “This survey is another tool in the process of how we look to provide our residents with the best experience they can possibly have.”

Miller said the main factors with whether they will subscribe to the consortium in the future are cost and effectiveness.

In the survey, questions are asked such as to rate student participation in different types of residence programs and to rate how respectful and welcoming your environment is.

The survey also consists of comment areas where students can write suggestions for services, programs or resources that could improve their living experience.

“The survey gives us important information to help assess our impact on the students,” Hudson said. “It is my hope that the data will give us some useful information to either validate what we are doing or enhance our understanding to see if we need to adjust accordingly.”

Miller said the survey allows students to have their voice heard.

“There have been a lot of changes that have been developed at Eastern because of student feedback whether it is through surveys, (the Residence Hall Association) or student government and we really listen to how to improve students’ college experiences,” Miller said.

Hudson said the survey began on March 23 and will be available to students for three weeks.

Students will be sent two reminders to their email to complete the survey.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu