I'll add another anecdotal viewpoint that I don't think anyone chooses to go to a specific school because of the wireless. I do think a student *may *choose NOT to go to a specific school if the student has a bad wireless experience.
A candidate is more likely to assume the wifi works, and their one bad experience is an aberration, unless it happens repeatedly or they hear other students complain about it. A simple, "Yeah, it's always like that comment." and suddenly a candidate goes elsewhere, but unless that happens wifi just isn't on a candidate's radar. Even if it is, many high schooler's don't yet have their own laptops (it's becoming a common graduation present), and will instead rely on a phone that has a backup data plan. This is especially true on a campus visit. Many candidate may never even try to connect to your network before arriving as a student for the first time. A current student will know better (or think they know better) by the end of the their first term. A single bad experience here or there typically won't matter much, but a consistently poor result may contribute to a transfer decision where wifi is one factor. I think wifi is rarely if ever the only factor, but the poorer the provided wifi service gets the more it has a potential to be a big factor. In other words, wifi service can translate over into the retention side of things, but teasing out just how much is challenging. The wifi service is important, but it's probably a mistake to try to build out the service to the level where you could see it as a competitive advantage over other institutions. As long as you don't fall significantly behind, you should be in good shape. Failing to provide service at all, though, is to risk falling significantly behind. Again, this is my anecdotal viewpoint. Joel Coehoorn Director of Information Technology 402.363.5603 *[email protected] <[email protected]>* The mission of York College is to transform lives through Christ-centered education and to equip students for lifelong service to God, family, and society On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 10:33 AM, Chuck Enfield <[email protected]> wrote: > I agree with the utility analogy, but what does that tell us? Not much, I > think. Natural gas is also a utility, but request that in your office and > see what kind of response you get. The utility analogy fails to answer > many > question related to how and where we should deliver Wi-Fi services. The > answers to these questions must be driven by business requirements, and > those are challenging to define. > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck Anderson > Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 10:35 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] AW: [WIRELESS-LAN] To provide (wireless) > service, or not to provide (wireless) service... > > Wi-Fi has become an (expensive to maintain) utility. It is just expected > to > be there and work well. You don't have people going around asking how much > of a deciding factor the reliability of the electricity is for choosing > where to go to school. > > Also, 7Signal isn't exactly an unbiased party with no conflicts of > interest... > > On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 09:58:29AM -0400, Chuck Enfield wrote: > > I have no doubt that network availability, accessibility, and > > performance all affect student satisfaction. But my question is > > directed at the issue of recruitment and retention, as these things > > have a clear impact on the bottom line. It stands to reason that > > student satisfaction affects the bottom line as well, but to what > > extent is far less clear. If we can't figure out if networking is a > > significant factor in who chooses to attend our institutions, it's > > highly unlikely we'll figure out how it affects things like alumni > > activity, donations, etc.. > > > > The (undated) graphic Chris provided is the first time I've seen a > > survey of students that addresses the recruitment question. 38% say > > Wi-Fi quality is a deciding factor is pretty powerful. That said, how > > students choose their institution is a well-researched question and > > I've never found information like this in any other source. Typical > > of what I find is this 3 year old data from a UCLA survey: > > > > 1. College has very good academic reputation (63.8 percent) 2. This > > college's graduates get good jobs (55.9 percent) 3. I was offered > > financial assistance (45.6 percent) 4. The cost of attending this > > college (43.3 percent) 5. A visit to this campus (41.8 percent) 6. > > College has a good reputation for its social activities (40.2 percent) > > 7. Wanted to go to a college about this size (38.8 percent) 8. > > College's grads get into top grad/professional schools (32.8 percent) > > 9. The percentage of students that graduate from this college (30.4 > > percent) 10. I wanted to live near home (20.1 percent) 11. Information > > from a website (18.7 percent) 12. Rankings in national magazines (18.2 > > percent) 13. Parents wanted me to go to this school (15.1 percent) 14. > > Admitted early decision and/or early action (13.7 percent) 15. Could > > not afford first choice (13.4 percent) 16. High school counselor > > advised me (10.3 percent) 17. Not offered aid by first choice (9.5 > > percent) 18. Athletic department recruited me (8.9 percent) 19. > > Attracted by the religious affiliation/orientation of college (7.4 > > percent) > > 20. My relatives wanted me to come here (6.8 percent) 20. My teacher > > advised me (6.8 percent) 22. Private college counselor advised me (3.8 > > percent) 23. Ability to take online courses (3.2 percent) > > > > Based on this, it's pretty clear that 7 Signal didn't conduct their > > survey at UCLA in the fall of 2012. I've been able to find newer > > data, but nothing that lists this many factors. That's another > > problem with the available data. Amongst surveys which describe their > > methodology, many decide a priori what factors are important and let > > respondents choose from those factors in an attempt to weight them. > > As far as I can discern, few surveys allow the respondents to add factors > > that the surveyor didn't include. > > > > I don’t mean to give the impression that I've researched this topic > > exhaustively. I've probably spent 10-12 hours deliberately > > researching it over the last couple years. That activity has left me > with > > 2 conclusions: > > 1) I don’t know how Wi-Fi affects enrollment, and 2) it's likely that > > nobody else does either. > > > > Chuck > > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
