Class of '89 Takes Another Test

Some seniors may have thought they would never have to take a standardized test again, but the members of the Class of '89 will have to pull out their number-two pencils one more time before they graduate.

The Office of Career Services (OCS) distributed the annual senior survey this week to the Class of '89, including for the first time a more extensive national questionnaire sponsored by the Consortium On Financing Higher Education (COFHE).

Seniors must turn in both the senior survey and the COFHE questionnaire by May 5 in order to receive tickets for Commencement.

But some students said they object to having to fill out the questionnaires as well as the fact that the COFHE survey asks for detailed financial information.

"The [COFHE questionnaire] asked questions that I don't think anyone has a right to know. They said it was confidential, but at the end the survey asked for my ID number," said Robert J. Toner '89.

The four-page senior survey, which has been distributed each year since 1960, contains general questions about undergraduate activities and future plans. The eight-page COFHE study contains more detailed questions on the same subjects, as well as sections about work experience and how students financed their undergraduate education.

The COFHE survey is distributed on campuses at 30 colleges and universities, including Brown, Stanford and Yale Universities. Results will be used to compare Harvard seniors with other students nationwide, and it will also provide the University with more extensive information on how students feel about undergraduate services, said OCS Director Martha P. Leape.

Harvard uses information from the senior survey to determine "what Harvard College students are planning for the next few years," said Leape. "It has made for interesting reports on patterns."

Leape said that the COFHE survey requests students' ID numbers so that the organization will be able to do follow-up studies in five years.

The COFHE study was distributed at Harvard for voluntary response five years ago, but there was a very low participation rate, Leape said. She said it was "unfortunate, because Harvard was not well-represented in national statistics."

Students said that some seniors might not fill out the forms accurately because of their objections to a mandatory survey.

Left it Blank

"I used a number-three pencil and said I was very happy with the University Health Services," said Toner. "No one at Harvard is happy with the health services."

But Undergraduate Council Chair Kenneth E. Lee '89 said he had no problems with the questionnaires. "The survey was short enough that I didn't mind filling it out," he said.

"But as for ID numbers, I agree that wasn't information they should have asked for. I simply left it blank," he said.