Questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE

Study of Pell Grant Recipients Who Transfer Among Eligible Institutions

PAPERWORK BURDEN STATEMENT

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is _______. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 15 minutes, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, and gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202‑4651. If you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual submission of this form, write directly to: Archie Cubarrubia, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue S.W., Room 7E319, Washington, D.C. 20202-8110.

Appendix A – Letter to Pell Grant Recipient

Dear Pell Grant recipient:

The U.S. Department of Education wishes to know more about the experiences of students who transfer from one postsecondary institution to another. We want to know if they have trouble in transferring credits they have earned to their new institutions, and if so, what kind of problems they have encountered. Additionally, we would like to review transcripts from the sending and receiving institutions attended by transfer students to provide additional details about the courses and credits requested for transfer.

As a past Pell Grant recipient who transferred, you have been randomly selected for a short survey on this topic. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. We also are enclosing a transcript permission form for you to sign and return to our contractor, Westat. Westat will pay the institutions for the transcripts. You can respond to the survey in three ways. (1) In a few days, we plan to call you to get your answers over the telephone. Alternatively, if you wish, you can respond immediately (2) by calling the following toll-free number (1-888-487-0511) or (3) by going to the following web site (PellGrantStudy.com) and using the ID shown below:

Website: PellGrantStudy.com

ID: «PIN»

The survey and transcript study are voluntary, and will have no effect on your receipt of Pell Grants. As a way of thanking you in advance for your time, we are enclosing a check for $10. You may complete the survey using any one of the three methods above. We would greatly appreciate your response by September 15, 2008.

There is nothing in the survey that should present any risk to you, but in any case please be assured that your answers will be protected under the Privacy Act and will not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as provided by law.

Thank you for your cooperation with this survey. Your responses will help us to better serve you and other students in the future.

Sincerely,

Archie Cubarrubia

Office of the Under Secretary

U.S. Department of Education

Appendix B – Questionnaire

Introduction

[Web version]

This questionnaire will be asking about two institutions that Pell Grant records indicate that you attended: [institution name 1], which you attended in 2004–05, and [institution name 2], which you attended in 2005–06. [Throughout the questionnaire, the appropriate institution name will be substituted into the text in place of the reference to the “new institution” or “institution you attended in 2004–05.”]

[Telephone interviewer version]

Hello, may I speak to [respondent name]?

[After respondent is reached…]

My name is ____ and I'm calling on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education.

Did you get the letter and check that the U.S. Department of Education recently mailed to you about a survey of Pell Grant recipients?

[IF THE RESPONDENT DOES NOT REMEMBER RECEIVING THE LETTER, THEN SAY]

Let me verify that we have your correct address. The information we have from your Pell Grant application is: [READ INFORMATION]

Is that address still correct? [OBTAIN CORRECTED INFORMATION]

That letter said that you were picked randomly for a survey as a past recipient of a Pell Grant who transferred from one postsecondary institution to another. We wish to know more about the experiences of people like you to know if you had trouble in transferring credits you earned to your new institution, and if so, what kind of problems you experienced. Along with that letter, there was a check for $10 to thank you in advance for taking 15 minutes to complete this survey.

Does that sound familiar, or did the letter never arrive?

[IF THE RESPONDENT REMEMBERS THE LETTER, SAY THE FOLLOWING.]

I’m glad you received the letter. In that case, we can proceed with the survey. We wish to ask about your experiences at two institutions: [institution name 1], which Pell Grant records indicate you attended in 2004–05, and [institution name 2], which you attended in 2005–06.

[IF THE RESPONDENT STILL DOES NOT REMEMBER THE LETTER, SAY THE FOLLOWING.]

You probably will receive the letter and check in a few days. In the meantime, we can still proceed with the survey. If for some reason the postmaster returns the first letter to us, we'll send you a new check for $10 as well.

The survey is voluntary, and won’t have any effect on your receipt of a Pell Grant. There is nothing in the survey that should present any risk to you, but in any case your responses will only be used for statistical purposes and will not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as provided by law. That is, we will prepare a report containing statistics on the overall results, but will not identify any of the specific students who responded.

We wish to ask about your experiences at two institutions: [institution name 1], which Pell Grant records indicate you attended in 2004–05, and [institution name 2], which you attended in 2005–06.

[IF THE RESPONDENT DOES REMEMBER THE LETTER, THEN SAY]

This call is to conduct the survey that we mentioned in that letter. The survey should take about 15 minutes.

In your case, we wish to ask about your experiences at two institutions: [institution name 1], which Pell Grant records indicate you attended in 2004–05, and [institution name 2], which you attended in 2005–06.

Questionnaire

1. According to your Pell Grant records, you attended one institution in 2004-05 and another institution in 2005–06. Did you attempt to transfer any course credits to your new institution, the one you attended in 2005-06?

Yes 1 (Skip to question 2a.)

No 2 (Continue with 1a.)

Don’t know/don’t remember 8 (Skip to question 11.)

1a. Why did you not attempt to transfer any course credits? (Pick the one answer that best applies, and then skip to question 11.)

Based on my new institution’s policies, I knew it would not accept the credits. 1

The credits weren’t relevant to what I planned to study. 2

I wanted to make a fresh start. 3

I didn’t know I could transfer the credits. 4

Some other reason (please specify below) 5

________________________________________

Don’t know/don’t remember 8

2a. For how many courses did you attempt to transfer credits? (Please answer in terms of the number of courses, not the number of credits. If you only remember the number of credits, please give your best estimate on the number of courses. Depending on the institution, typically a course is for either three or four credits. If you took a year-long course, please count it once for each term — i.e., a two-semester course would count as two courses.)

1 or 2 courses 1

3 to 5 courses 2

6 to 10 courses 3

More than 10 courses 4

Don’t know/don’t remember 8 (Skip to question 3.)

2b. Are the above counts based on a semester system (two terms per year) or quarter/trimester system (three terms per year, or four if the summer is counted)?

Semester system 1

Quarter/trimester system 2

Other (please specify)______________________ 3

Don’t know/don’t remember 8

3. Did your new institution accept all of the courses for transfer?

Yes, all of them. 1 (Skip to question 5.)

Only some of them 2 (Continue with 4.)

None of them. 3 (Continue with 4.)

Don’t know/don’t remember 8 (Skip to question 5.)

4. How many did it refuse to accept?

1 or 2 courses 1

3 to 5 courses 2

6 to 10 courses 3

More than 10 courses 4

Don’t know/don’t remember 8

5. Which of the following types of courses did you attempt to transfer? Which were accepted and which were denied? (Answer yes or no for each part.)

	1. Attempted to transfer	2. At least one course accepted	3. At least one course denied
	Don’t Yes No know	Don’t Yes No know	Don’t Yes No know
A. General academic courses (such as English, mathematics, the sciences, and humanities)	1 2 8	1 2 8	1 2 8
B. Career and technical education courses (such as nursing, business, information technology, architecture, and construction)	1 2 8	1 2 8	1 2 8

6. What reasons did the institution give you for not accepting the transfer? (Answer yes or no on each line.) [THIS QUESTION WILL BE SKIPPED IF NO COURSES WERE DENIED FOR TRANSFER, BASED ON Q3 AND Q5.]

Don’t

Yes No know

a. There was a limit on the total number of courses or credits I could transfer. 1 2 8

b. My course grade was not high enough. 1 2 8

c. My new institution doesn’t accept any transfers of credit from my old institution. 1 2 8

d. The new institution would not accept career and technical education courses for credit. 1 2 8

e. The course was in a subject area other than career and technical education that the new institution would not accept for credit. 1 2 8

f. The course was not considered to be at the college level. 1 2 8

g. My new institution requires that certain courses be taken only there. 1 2 8

h. Other (please specify below) 1 2 8

________________________________________

7. Did the institution you attended in 2005–06 require any payment from you in order to accept your transfer courses?

Yes 1 (Continue with 7a.)

No 2 (Go to question 8.)

Does not apply/no courses were accepted 3 (Go to question 8.)

Don’t know/don’t remember 8 (Go to question 8.)

7a. How much did you pay? (Please give your best estimate. You can give either the amount per course or the total.)

$____ per course.

Or

$____ total.

Don’t know/don’t remember 8

8. Did you have to repeat any courses or take extra courses because the institution you attended in 2005-06 wouldn’t accept at least one of your transfer courses?

Yes 1 (Continue with 8a.)

No 2 (Go to question 9.)

Don’t know/don’t remember 8 (Go to question 9.)

8a. Which of the following courses did you have to take as repeated or extra courses?

Don’t

Yes No know

a. Courses that covered essentially the same material you studied earlier. 1 2 8

b. Courses that were on the same topic, but were still different from what you studied earlier. 1 2 8

c. Courses that were entirely new, but that you wouldn’t have taken if you had transfer credits from the previous year. 1 2 8

8b. If you had to repeat any courses, how much did you learn from repeating the courses? (Pick the one answer that best applies.)

I learned a great deal by retaking the course(s) 1

I learned a little 2

The repeated class was a waste of my time 3

I had mixed experiences, learning from one or more courses, but wasting my time in one or more other courses 4

Don’t know/don’t remember 8

8c. If you had to repeat any courses, how did your grades compare? (Pick the one answer that best applies.)

I received better grades the first time. 1

I received better grades the second time. 2

I received essentially the same grades both times. 3

Some of my grades were better the first time, and some were better the second time. 4

Don’t know/don’t remember 8

9. Did you have extra college expenses, such as for tuition and books, as a result of taking the extra courses?

Yes 1 (Continue with 9a.)

No 2 (Go to question 10.)

Don’t know/don’t remember 8 (Go to question 10.)

9a. Roughly how much extra did you pay? $__________

10. Was your graduation delayed as a result of taking the extra courses?

Yes 1 (Continue with 10a.)

No 2 (Go to question 11.)

Don’t know/don’t remember 8 (Go to question 11.)

10a. How many months was it delayed? ____________

Don’t know/don’t remember 88

11. What is the primary reason that you transferred to the new institution you attended in 2005–06? (Pick the answer that best applies.)

I always intended to transfer after completing a program at my old institution. 1

I always intended to transfer without completing a program at my old institution. 2

After starting at my old institution, I decided I wanted additional education. 3

I decided I wanted to study something different from what I was studying before. 4

I was not happy at my previous institution. 5

I moved to a new city/state for personal reasons. 6

Other (please specify) 7

___________________________________

Don’t know/don’t remember 8

12a. Are you of Hispanic or Latino origin?

Yes 1

No 2

12b. What is your race? (Select one or more.)

White 1

Black or African American 1

Asian 1

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 1

American Indian or Alaska Native 1

13. Do you give permission for the 1^st and 2^nd institutions you attended to release your transcripts for our study? Westat will reimburse institutions for sending the transcripts.

Yes 1 (continue with 13a)

No 2 (skip to 14)

13a. You may be able to send a copy of both transcripts directly to us, either by downloading them from your institution and emailing them, or by copying or faxing your own copies. If so, Westat will pay you $10 after receiving both transcripts. Otherwise, Westat will collect the transcripts directly from the institutions. In that case, please sign and mail the permission form that was included with the letter and check that we mailed to you, using the provided postage-paid envelope. Which approach will you take?

I will send the transcripts directly. 1

I will sign the form and mail it. 2

I need another form mailed to me 3

14. Please provide the following information so we can provide to you the additional $10 check (if you directly send the transcripts) or permission form (if you need one), or in case we have any questions about your responses.

Name: ______________________________________

Street: ______________________________________

City: _______________ State: _______

Telephone number: (_____) ______-____________

Email address: ______________________________

Best time to call: _______________

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