Survey Says…

Written by Doug Goodnough

For a time, I was a big fan of the television show Family Feud. I was more of a Richard Dawson-era viewer, but I was always fascinated by the concept of guessing what a certain segment of 100 people had to say on a particular topic. Just who were those people who were surveyed? And there is always the suspense of the host belting out the phrase “Survey Says…” before revealing if the contestant guessed correctly.

When it comes to an alumni survey, there is no such suspense. Every so often, the Alumni Office reaches out to alumni so we can see how they feel about the College, as well as how effective the Alumni Office is in connecting its graduates to their alma mater.

Last fall, we enlisted the College’s survey partner to administer a survey to our alumni. If you were one of the 400 or so alumni who responded, thank you. We asked alumni a variety of questions on a variety of topics, including their experiences as students and how they perceive the College since graduating.

So what did the survey say? Overall, we are happy to report that our alumni are pleased with the College and its efforts. In fact, our survey partner said Hillsdale alumni had higher scores than the national average in many areas, including value, campus atmosphere, campus opportunities, institutional outreach, religious values, financial aid packages, and student services. Here are some other results:

When rating academic experience, 97 percent of our alumni respondents said it was either “good” or “excellent,” compared to the national average of 91 percent.
More than half (54 percent) felt “connected” or “very connected” to the College, compared to the national average of 49 percent.
A large number of respondents said they chose Hillsdale to pursue a classical liberal arts education and because of its academic reputation. This number was even higher with those who graduated within the past 35 years.
“A vast majority” of respondents are proud to be alumni, citing academic excellence and independence from government interference/support.
When it came to receiving communications from the College, a whopping 88 percent said it was “about right” in frequency.
As far as communication preference, email was the predominant favorite for respondents, with mailings and social media following. Note: Alumni (57 percent!) told us that they still prefer to be contacted by postal mail. The national average is just 29 percent.
In the area of giving, those who were regular donors to the College or considered “major donors” felt a stronger connection to Hillsdale, more so than those who had never made a gift.

Now, most of this information isn’t groundbreaking. However, the purpose of these surveys is to take the “pulse” of our alumni and to ensure the Alumni Office is reaching out to alumni in the right ways.

Of course, we receive feedback about the College anecdotally from time to time during our contact with alumni. But we believe it’s important to get a large enough sample size of our graduates on how they feel about the College to see if there are any developing trends. We also do similar surveys after our alumni events, and those are extremely helpful in future planning. After all, we want to be good stewards of the resources we receive.

Let me leave you with one final statistic: A higher percentage of Hillsdale’s alumni report staying engaged by vising campus (73 percent to 52 percent), compared to the national benchmark average. I hope we can count you in that 73 percent soon. There is no better way to connect with Hillsdale than by being back on campus. I don’t need a survey to tell me that.

Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.

Published in February 2025