College Success Factors Index

In use by colleges and universities for twenty years, the College Success Factors Index (CSFI) is an instrument containing 80/100 self-scoring statements,* designed to determine whether college students are able to successfully complete their early years in higher education.

Many factors make for academic success in universities and colleges throughout the country. Most notably, grade point average in high school and aptitude scores seem to be the best predictors of success in colleges and universities. However, additional factors which are often unmeasured have a very important place in the retention of students and their continuing success in higher education. For example, how a student uses his time, or approaches the tasks assigned, may be more critical to success than previous academic records or test scores.

With this in mind, we have developed the College Success Factors Index (CSFI), which measures eight to ten of the most important factors which contribute to academic success.

The CSFI is designed to show not only overall scores, but also to demonstrate a breakdown of eight important factors for each individual student. The survey is intended to have practical predictive value for anyone working with college bound and first year students. As a diagnostic instrument, the CSFI allows educators to review scores in reference to a criterion success line, which is called the "watchline." The CSFI score also indicates some of the probabilities of return and non-return the second year of college.

The CSFI** can be utilized and implemented in a variety of ways. It has been used for pre- and post-testing in FYE classe as a transitional measurement for students from high school to college.

* paper and pencil booklets have 80 statements, and the electronic version has 100 statements.

** if intrested in the electronic version of the CSFI, click on the Cengage Learning icon on the right of this page.