Students received e-mails last week advising them to be on the lookout for a survey titled “What do you think of LSU?”
Holly Cullen, assistant vice chancellor of University Relations, said the survey was sent to around 1,000 people Monday. She said the University plans to send the rest in the next few days.
Cullen said the main purpose of the research is to improve both the general image of the University and recruiting techniques.
“Now, more than ever, we need to know our marketplace,” she said.
Cullen said the surveys are being sent to students, staff, faculty, current and prospective graduate students, donors and alumni.
Cullen said surveys sent via e-mail are frequently used to collect student opinion.
“We’ve done surveys like this in the past,” Cullen said. “This is mainly to update our data.”
Cullen said the survey, conducted by Louisiana-based market research firm SCI Research, cost $23,948.
Cullen said the data collected from a previous survey helped the University bring in the second largest freshman class in history last year.
She said the University is also using the data to aid current students. The survey allows the University to see which programs students use most and which they don’t know about. The University then knows what programs to advertise, Cullen said.
“We want to know what people know and don’t know,” Cullen said.
University Relations encourages all students to respond so the data will be accurate, Cullen said.
“We want as many people to participate as possible,” she said.
Cullen said money was specifically budgeted to conduct the research, and it will come from an existing research account.
Stephen Champagne, agricultural business senior, said he thinks it’s money well spent.
“It’s a good idea to try to recruit students,” Champagne said. “It highlights the attributes of the University.”
Champagne said he thinks attracting students from out of state could benefit the University during these financial hard times.
“The more students we can bring from out of state, the better,” he said. “Spread the wealth.”
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]