A new report prepared for CIC finds that students attending private colleges and universities are much more likely to experience moral and spiritual development than their peers at public institutions. In addition, students attending private institutions reported greater engagement in important educational experiences such as “deep learning” behaviors that contribute to a liberal arts education and gains in intellectual skills.

The “deep learning” indicator is derived from eight educationally purposeful behaviors identified by scholars as contributing to a liberal arts education. These include integrating ideas and information from various sources and perspectives in written assignments; making critical judgments about the merits of information, arguments, or methods; as well as measures of the extent to which students discuss ideas from their courses with faculty, peers, and others outside of the classroom.

The CIC report is based on data from 460 four-year colleges and universities that administered the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) in 2004. The analyses were conducted by Robert M. Gonyea and George D. Kuh at Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research.

The CIC study finds that when it comes to moral and ethical development, smaller private colleges excel. Two-thirds of seniors indicated that the nondoctoral private institutions they attended contributed to their developing a personal code of values and ethics, versus about half of the seniors who attended state institutions (52 percent at nondoctoral publics and 48 percent at doctoral publics).



Source: National Survey of Student Engagement (2006) comparison report prepared for the Council of Independent Colleges. Percentage of seniors reporting “very much” or “quite a bit” to the question: “To what extent has your experience at this institution contributed to your developing a personal code of values and ethics?


In addition, students attending nondoctoral private colleges and universities were much more likely to engage in worship, meditation, or prayer than students attending public institutions. Two-thirds of first-year students and seniors at private, nondoctoral institutions indicated that they had participated in these religious activities, compared with just half of those attending public nondoctoral colleges and universities. Moreover, 36 percent of first-year students and 34 percent of seniors at private nondoctoral colleges and universities indicated that their participation was “frequent” versus 24 percent and 26 percent respectively at public nondoctoral institutions.

Among seniors, 38 percent indicated that the private baccalaureate and master’s-level college or university they attended contributed “substantially” to their spiritual development, compared with just 21 percent of those attending public nondoctoral institutions and 18 percent attending public research universities.

The religious engagement of students is important to many CIC member colleges and universities, especially the two-thirds of the members that have a stated religious affiliation. Student interest in spirituality and involvement in religious activities has been on the rise, as noted by recent reports by UCLA’s Alexander and Helen Astin and other scholars.

Students attending private colleges and universities also scored better on important educational outcomes. For example, 31 percent of seniors attending nondoctoral private institutions placed in the top quartile on gains in intellectual skills, compared with 23 percent of seniors at nondoctoral publics and 19 percent at public research universities. Two out of five seniors (42 percent) at CIC-type colleges and universities ranked in the highest third on the NSSE measure of “deep learning,” versus one in three of their peers attending public institutions (34 percent at nondoctoral and 30 percent at doctoral).

More data from the NSSE study are available on the CIC Making the Case website.