Black College Students' Satisfaction at Two Predominantly White Universities in the Deep South

Abstract

The student unrest of the 1960's served as the catalyst for research assessing levels of college students' satisfaction. The changing ethnic population of the nation's colleges and universities in the 1980's also supports a need to assess college students' satisfaction, particularly in view of the increase in the number of black students attending predominantly white colleges and universities. Their satisfaction might be a useful index of students' adjustment, especially black students. In one study of black college students' satisfaction in the 1980's, Robertson ( 1 ) reported that black smdents were displeased with the university's system of rewards (grades) and the discrepanq between the amount of work required and the academic outcome received, but otherwise, they were as satisfied as the white students. Complaints, however, from black students concerning their displeasure with other aspects of their college experiences prompted further research. A random sample of 46 undergraduates (23 black and 23 white) amending two large predominantly white southern universities were administered the College Student Satisfaction Questionnaire ( 2 ) during the spring semester of 1982. Analysis of means and standard deviations for the total satisfaction and subscale scores shown below yielded several results. The F ratio between mean total satisfaction scores of the two groups was statistically significant ( K . r r = 4.02, p < .05). Other significant differences between the groups were on three of the five subscales: ( a ) Compensation ( t ~ = 2.17, p < .05) , ( b ) Social Life ( t u = 2.58, p < .05) , and (c) Recognition (tu = 2.00, P < .05). Not significantly different were comparisons for Working Conditions and Quality of Education. The results suggest that these black college students appeared to be significantly less satisfied with their college experiences than the white students.