Student development and wellness, both inside and outside the classroom, are now top priorities for many colleges and universities, which have hired more administrators to work with students on a wide range of initiatives promoting professional, academic, and interpersonal growth. In theory, these seemingly ubiquitous administrators support students during their college journeys. But new data, collected just as schools are transitioning out of pandemic lockdowns, make clear that students don’t feel that these administrators understand them very well. A nationally representative survey from College Pulse of more than 2,000 students reveals that students felt closer to their professors than to the administrators.
The survey asked students to answer whether certain groups at their respective colleges and universities “see them.” Do these respective groups understand the personal challenges that students face on campus? When asked about their school’s upper administration – such as the school’s president, provost, and deans – only 17 percent of students strongly agreed that these administrators understood them, while another 26 percent said that they felt “somewhat” understood. That adds up to just over four in 10 students (43 percent) – a minority – believing that their school’s administrators understood their needs.
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