Foundation and Wonderlic, Inc. Work Together to Develop 'Educational Benchmarks'
WASHINGTON, June 23, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The satisfied scholarship student is usually a successful one – and their experience with the scholarship organization that provided them financial assistance is important to the pursuit of their education. The Imagine America Foundation (IAF) has again teamed with the esteemed research organization, Wonderlic, to conduct its annual customer satisfaction survey and those students who've received financial aid assistance from the Foundation are more than pleased with the program's outcome.
Last year, the Foundation teamed with Wonderlic to create an assessment to be distributed to the Foundation's scholarship award winners. The Foundation, which has a commitment to continue their improvement of scholarship delivery, now conducts the survey quarterly to measure recipients' satisfaction with IAF's scholarship programs.
Recipients of all three program types for high school, adult and military students completed the questionnaire in May. The topics within the survey included the application process, customer service, enrollment experience and overall satisfaction, along with the ability for respondents to provide comments. The final survey results show another positive review for IAF.
Scholarship recipients expressed optimistic opinions of the application process. More than 94 percent said the application was easy to complete and 92 percent said the website was simple and provided helpful information. Students had similar responses with customer service, as most of them rated their experience as "good" or "excellent." They were most pleased with the helpfulness (92 percent), professionalism (93 percent), and promptness of response (92 percent) from their IAF representative.
"We've always been very proud of our relationships and interactions with our scholarship and award winners," said Robert L. Martin, President of the Imagine America Foundation. "The latest survey results again show that we're continuing our usual high level of customer service. Our students continue to enjoy their experience with our organization, and that's one of the biggest compliments we can have as a scholarship provider."
Overall, 94 percent of the survey respondents were very satisfied with the service they received from IAF and 97 percent would recommend the Foundation scholarship program to a friend. The commentary section showed that recipients were most pleased with the ease and speed of the application process. Award recipients were also grateful for receiving the scholarship and expressed their appreciation of the IAF acknowledging the importance of making scholarships available to non-traditional students.
The overarching results of this survey indicate that students are happy with the services of IAF and appreciate the opportunities they have been given. This information will assist the Foundation in continuing to develop what is already a beneficial program and to give award winners an even better experience.
In addition to compiling the survey results, the Foundation and Wonderlic have also jointly initiated a research project to develop Educational Benchmarks of student attitudes, opinions, performance, and satisfaction. The benchmarks will act as standards which schools can use to support the improvement of their administrative and classroom processes. This project will strive to identify the key influencing factors to student satisfaction, academic achievement, and gainful employment.
"This is a unique opportunity to develop a deep knowledge base of interactions between institutional design and student experiences," said Ken Silber, Vice President and General Manager of Wonderlic Education Solutions. "The results will help shape academic best practices today and for years to come."
Once Wonderlic completes its analysis of the information gathered via this research, IAF and Wonderlic will work together to publish and promote the results.
For more information about the Wonderlic survey results or benchmarks for the student experience, contact Robert L. Martin, President of the Imagine America Foundation, at (202) 336-6758, bobm@imagine-america.org, or visit .
About the Imagine America Foundation
The Imagine America Foundation (IAF), established in 1982, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing scholarships for education, research and training support for the career college sector. Since its inception, the Foundation has provided over $50 million in scholarship and award support for graduating high school seniors, adult learners and U.S. military personnel attending career colleges nationwide through its award-winning Imagine America® programs. The Foundation also publishes vital research publications for the higher education sector, honors achievement in career education and offers faculty development training. For more information about the Imagine America Foundation's programs, please visit .
About Wonderlic
Wonderlic, Inc., a founding member of the Association of Test Publishers, is a family-owned business located in Vernon Hills, IL. The company provides proven assessments and surveys that help schools select, develop and retain top performing students, faculty and staff. In its 70+ year history, Wonderlic has delivered over 150 million employment and student assessments and surveys to more than 20,000 organizations, government agencies and accrediting bodies. For more information please visit .
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