Best questions for community college student survey about student engagement and belonging

Here are some of the best questions for a Community College Student survey about student engagement and belonging, with tips on crafting them to get the most valuable feedback. With Specific, you can build such a survey in seconds using our AI-powered tools.

Best open-ended questions for student engagement and belonging

Open-ended questions are where you’ll discover authentic insights. We use them when we want students to share their unique perspectives, stories, or challenges—things multiple choice simply can’t reveal. In fact, the real barriers to engagement or deep belonging often come up in these unscripted answers. Here are my top 10 open-ended questions for Community College Student surveys about student engagement and belonging:

1. What activities or experiences on campus have made you feel most connected to our college community?

2. Can you describe a time when you truly felt like you belonged here? What made that moment stand out?

3. What challenges, if any, have you faced in getting involved with campus events or groups?

4. How do you prefer to connect with other students outside of class?

5. What resources or support would make it easier for you to participate in extracurricular activities?

6. Have you ever felt disconnected or out of place at our college? What contributed to that feeling?

7. How has your relationship with faculty or staff influenced your experience at this college?

8. What could we do to help you feel more welcomed and supported on campus?

9. If you could change one thing about student life here to improve your sense of belonging, what would it be?

10. Are there any barriers—personal, financial, or academic—that limit your engagement on campus? Please explain.

Open-ended questions help us see patterns and context we’d otherwise miss. For example, according to a recent survey, over half of two-year college students spend zero hours per week on extracurricular activities, which impacts their sense of belonging and engagement [2]. By asking these types of questions, we uncover the "why" behind the numbers.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for student engagement and belonging

If you want quick, quantifiable data or need to set up a conversation starter, single-select multiple-choice questions are invaluable. They remove ambiguity, reduce survey fatigue, and allow you to spot trends in what students are experiencing. Sometimes students aren’t sure how to start expressing themselves—it’s less intimidating to pick from a few options, then expand in a follow-up.

Question: How often do you participate in campus events?

• Never

• Rarely

• Sometimes

• Often

• Always

Question: Which factor most prevents you from getting involved on campus?

• Work or family commitments

• Not aware of events/groups

• Don’t feel welcomed

• Lack of transportation

• Other

Question: How would you rate your sense of belonging at this college?

• Very strong

• Somewhat strong

• Neutral

• Somewhat weak

• Very weak

When to follow up with "why?" If a student selects “Don’t feel welcomed” or “Very weak” sense of belonging, always follow up: “Can you share more about what made you feel this way?” This simple “why?” moves the conversation from superficial data to actionable insight about campus climate or barriers.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Sometimes students’ experiences don’t fit neatly into your categories. By including “Other” and prompting for details, you let them share something you hadn’t considered—which can expose issues or opportunities to improve that multiple choice can’t anticipate. Use follow-ups to dig deeper into these responses and uncover real gems.

Should you use an NPS question?

NPS, or Net Promoter Score, is a metric we often use to gauge overall satisfaction and loyalty: “How likely are you to recommend this college to a friend or peer?” For Community College Student surveys on engagement and belonging, it’s surprisingly useful. A low score is a red flag; a high one suggests strong buy-in and connection. NPS scores can be especially illuminating when segmented by student groups (first-generation, part-time, etc.) and followed up with “why did you give that rating?”

You can automatically generate a tailored NPS survey for student engagement and belonging in seconds with Specific.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions—especially ones generated in response to the student’s last reply—are vital for richer insights. That’s why we value automated follow-ups so much. Specific uses advanced AI to ask real-time, natural follow-ups—just like an expert would, digging deeper into nuance and context. This isn’t just about data; it saves you the endless back-and-forth emails researchers used to rely on and brings clarity instantly.

• Community College Student: “I feel disconnected from campus.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you tell me more about what makes you feel disconnected? Are there certain experiences or situations you recall?”

How many followups to ask? Usually, two or three is enough to get to the core of an issue. You want depth, but not at the cost of survey fatigue. It also helps to let students skip further follow-ups if they’ve already said all they can. With Specific, you can set this threshold at the survey creation stage.

This makes it a conversational survey: When the AI follows up on your students’ answers, the exchange feels more like an interview than a form. Respondents open up when they feel someone (or something) is listening, making engagement much higher than a static list of questions.

AI response analysis, instant summaries, no hassle: Even if you end up with hundreds of lines of open-ended responses, AI-powered analysis turns it all into actionable themes and insights in minutes. If you want to know more, see our guide on analyzing survey responses with AI.

Try out a survey with automated follow-ups and see how natural these conversations feel. It’s a new way to get to the heart of what students really experience.

How to prompt ChatGPT or other GPTs for better student survey questions

The key to getting great survey questions out of any AI, including ChatGPT, is your prompt. Start simple, but add detail for better results. For example, begin with:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Community College Student survey about student engagement and belonging.

If you clarify the context and objectives, you get even more tailored questions. Try:

I’m designing a survey for first-generation community college students. My goal is to understand what helps them feel engaged and welcomed on campus, and what stands in their way. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to get deeper insights into their experience.

Once you have a list, categorize them for structure. Prompt:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

After reviewing the categories (like “faculty relationships,” “extracurriculars,” or “mental health”), ask for more depth where it matters:

Generate 10 questions for categories faculty relationships, extracurriculars, and mental health.

This iterative approach matches how real researchers refine their surveys. It’s also how our AI survey generator works—give it detailed inspiration, and it handles the rest, including follow-ups and structured logic.

What makes a survey "conversational"?

A conversational survey isn’t just a list of questions. It’s an experience, where the respondent feels heard, guided, and valued—more like a chat than a test. This dynamic makes all the difference in getting candid, thoughtful answers from students who might otherwise hold back.

Here’s how AI survey generation stacks up compared to the old manual process:

Why use AI for community college student surveys? Because every student’s story is unique. AI-powered conversational surveys adapt, learn, and probe, just like a skilled interviewer. They also break down barriers for students who may struggle to engage, like first-generation college students, helping you create a truly inclusive and actionable feedback loop [5].

If you want more practical advice on launching a Community College Student survey about student engagement and belonging, don’t miss our full guide to survey creation.

See this student engagement and belonging survey example now

Unlock a new level of insight and engagement with conversational surveys that adapt in real time. See the difference for yourself—start gathering richer, more honest student feedback with AI-driven, conversational surveys made for real student life.