Helping Students Make Informed Choices About College
Category: Pathways to and Through Postsecondary
Instrument Overview
Expert Notes AvailableView expert commentary on strengths and cautions for this instrument
Strengths
Combines academic, motivational, and social factors related to persistence. Widely used across colleges and universities.
Cautions
Commercial instrument that requires paid access and proprietary scoring. Some recommendations may require substantial advising capacity to implement.
Less useful for measuring changes over time or intervention impacts. Use for at-risk screening and intervention, not as a standalone measure of success.
The College Student Inventory (CSI) is a survey used by colleges to support first-year students early in their transition to college. It was developed by Ruffalo Noel Levitz as part of a broader retention system. The goal is to help institutions identify students’ needs, strengths, and potential risks as soon as they arrive on campus.
The CSI asks students about areas linked to persistence. It focuses on academic motivation, coping skills, and openness to support services. The survey includes 100 items across 17 scales, with results reported as percentile ranks and visual profiles. It also gathers background information such as high school performance, work plans, and family context. These results are designed to help advisors start early, targeted conversations with students.
Institutions use the CSI to identify students who may be at risk for academic or personal challenges. It can also highlight students’ strengths and readiness to engage with support services.
Research on the CSI and related Noel-Levitz tools shows that its scales are associated with first-year retention and persistence outcomes (e.g., Slanger et al., 2015).
Organization
Collection Category(ies)
Content
Grades
Post secondary
Languages
English
Administration Information
Length
100 items
Access and Use
Developer
Ruffalo Noel-Levitz
Price
Contact
RNL company phone number: 800.876.1117
Open Access
No
Use in Research
Basham, V., & Lunenburg, F. C. (2001). Usefulness of the College Student Inventory as a Needs Assessment Tool in Community Colleges.
Psychometrics (additional guidance)
Psychometric References
Slanger, W. D., Berg, E. A., Fisk, P. S., & Hanson, M. G. (2015). A Longitudinal Cohort Study of Student Motivational Factors Related to Academic Success and Retention Using the College Student Inventory. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 17(3), 278-302.
Noel-Levitz, Ruffalo. (2013). 2013 National freshman attitudes report: Motivation, engagement, and persistence in the first year. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED570984.pdf
Populations of Validation
Validated with incoming first-year college students across U.S. institutions. No public information available on demographics of these students (e.g. race/ethnicity, family income, first-generation status)
