Race/Ethnicity Survey FAQs

The Race/Ethnicity Survey is a stand-alone online survey offered in the fall academic term. The purpose of the survey is to help colleges understand their students’ experiences with racism, inclusion, and belonging.

Colleges administering the Race/Ethnicity survey to students can also opt to participate in a version of the survey for faculty and staff at no additional cost. The Faculty and Staff survey is fully online and can be shared with all faculty and staff. It is administered in the same term as the student survey.

All accredited associate degree-granting colleges are eligible to participate in CCCSE surveys. 

For colleges that award both associate and baccalaureate degrees, CCCSE surveys are the appropriate choice when the majority of degrees awarded are at the associate level.

The survey is available each fall. Registration for the survey begins in February and concludes July 31. The survey can be administered between September 15 and the December 15 deadline.

The student survey should be shared with all students who are at least 18 years old. The survey should not be shared with incarcerated students, as they may not be exposed to the full breadth of the community college student experience. Dual enrollment students should also not be invited to participate in the survey as most are under the age of 18 and many may not be exposed to the full breadth of the community college student experience. 

The faculty and staff survey should be shared with all faculty and staff who are at least 18 years old, including those who work part-time. 

Colleges should communicate with eligible participants in advance of the survey being sent and throughout the administration process. We will provide communication templates for these targeted messages.

We will provide the institutional contact a link to the student survey and a link to the faculty/staff survey. On the first day of the administration window, the survey link should be sent to participant via email, LMS, text, or any mechanism through which the survey link can be shared. We will provide sample survey invitations.

Any item on the survey can be skipped if respondents don’t think they have the knowledge or experience to respond to the item. Students are provided this instruction at the beginning of the survey.

Reports will be released on March 15. For the student survey, colleges will receive access to several college-level frequency reports: one all-student report and four breakouts reports for race/ethnicity, age, gender identity, and sexual orientation. For the faculty and staff survey, colleges will receive an all faculty/staff college-level frequency report, along with several college-level breakouts. 

Raw data files will also be available for download at this time. These files will not include access codes to protect student and faculty/staff confidentiality.

Pricing information is available on the Administer the Surveys webpage.

Yes. Colleges can select to administer the survey only to students or only to faculty and staff. The cost of the survey does not change.

If a college withdraws at any time after the online survey is accessed by student respondents, there will be a cancellation fee equivalent to 25% of the total fee. If payment has already been made, the college may elect to have the appropriate amount refunded or to have the remaining balance applied as a credit toward future services. If payment has not yet been made at the time of withdrawal, the college will receive an invoice for the appropriate amount, as stipulated in this policy.