Topic: Alumni

June 15, 2016

Gallup Well-Being Index Scorecard

About 94 percent of Ball State's alumni report they are satisfied with their personal lives, according to a survey by Gallup and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

An overwhelming majority of Ball State alumni, some 94 percent, are satisfied with their personal lives according to the results of a new survey released today by Gallup and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

The pilot survey, conducted early last winter, was designed to measure graduates’ satisfaction levels in areas such as return on investment, work fulfillment, and personal and community life engagement; 4,216 Ball State alumni who received their undergraduate degrees between 1970 and 2014 were surveyed.

“I want to commend the 13 trailblazing colleges that stepped up to be the first Gallup-Indiana Survey participants,” said Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers. “For these campuses and the commission, the results provide insights we can use to improve the postsecondary experience for Hoosier students.”

Other key positive findings from Ball State alumni:

  • 84 percent strongly agreed or agreed that their education was worth the cost
  • 81 percent strongly agreed or agreed that their job gives them work to do that interests them
  • 75 percent said they were extremely satisfied or satisfied with their organization as a place to work

Besides Ball State, participating schools were Butler University, Calumet College of St. Joseph, Grace College, Indiana University East, Indiana University Kokomo, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Ivy Tech Community College, Manchester University, Marian University, Taylor University, Vincennes University and WGU Indiana.

Kay Bales, Ball State’s vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services, said the university was eager to join the program and establish baseline measurements.

“We’re proud to have partnered with the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to begin to contextually measure our outcomes,” Bales said. “We’re eager to dive deeper into the results to determine, as a university community, what successes we can build upon and what opportunities exist for continued growth and development.”

According to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, the Gallup-Indiana Survey results will be an important part of the Indiana College Value Index released this fall. The index is a first-in-the-nation, comprehensive measure of higher education value that brings together the commission’s existing data on college readiness, college completion, student debt, employment, average earnings and this qualitative data on graduate satisfaction.