1. A Description of Transit Survey Respondents
The 2005 campus transit survey received responses from 1,380 students enrolled at North Dakota State University, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and Concordia College. The data provides insight into campus transportation use and other transit related issues. Survey topics included the mobility demands of students, perceptions of MAT services and campus parking, students' interest in intercampus public transportation, desired transit accommodations and the prices students are willing to pay for service.
1.1 Data Collection
Data was collected by inviting all students on each institution's email list to participate in an on-line survey. All completed surveys were included in the final analysis. The sampling methodology does not guarantee equal participation from all students and likely led to some degree of bias in the survey findings.
1.2 Response by Class
The response to this year's survey shows a relatively proportionate distribution across undergraduate and graduate class levels (Figure 1). Upperclassmen had relatively higher response rates then freshman and sophomores. Seniors had the highest response rate of any class making up roughly 27 percent of all responses. MSUM had a very low response rate among sophomores with 6 percent of the responses coming from that class though they make up 18 percent of the study body.
| Classification | Actual Class Distribution | Class Size | Respondent Distribution | Sample Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshmen | 22.57% | 4,909 | 24.13% | 333 |
| Sophomores | 19.23% | 4,183 | 19.64% | 271 |
| Juniors | 18.24% | 3,966 | 21.67% | 299 |
| Seniors | 28.32% | 6,159 | 27.25% | 376 |
| Graduate | 8.74% | 1,901 | 6.81% | 94 |
| Non-degree | 2.90% | 630 | 0.51% | 7 |
| Total | 100.00% | 21,748 | 100.00% | 1,380 |
Figure 1. Survey Response Distribution Compared to Actual Class Distribution (N=1,380)
1.3 Response by Gender
Of the 1,380 students who responded, 967 or 70 percent were female, and 413 or 30 percent were male. The actual 2005 enrollment at the three institutions consisted of 11,507 females and 10,241 males, making up 53 and 47 percent of the student body. Thus, the percentage of women who responded to this survey is substantially higher than the percentage of women enrolled at the institutions. This self-selection effect is even more pronounced at MSUM and Concordia where 88 and 81 percent of the surveys were completed by females though they made up only 61 and 63 percent of their respective student bodies.
1.4 Full-time Status
Both MSUM and NDSU have sizeable part-time student populations. Of MSUM respondents 90 percent were full-time students as were 95 percent of NDSU's. This compares to student bodies with 77 and 85 percent full-time students at the two universities.
1.5 Employment Status
A student's employment status has a significant impact on his or her behavior outside of the workplace, including mobility demand. The student employment data gathered is presented graphically in Figure 2. One-fourth of the survey respondents were not employed. Approximately 36 percent of students surveyed were employed off campus and less than 40 percent of the survey respondents were employed on campus.
One notable deviation was the high percentage of Concordia students who work on-campus, about 63 percent of the survey respondents.
Figure 2. Student Work Status (n=1,380)