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Student Activities at Ferris State University

Andrew Bueche, Thomas Lapeer, Ethan Wierenga

Ferris State University

ENGL 325

Dr. Mindy Myers

April 11, 2021

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Student Activities at Ferris State University

Campus activities have long been a staple of the college experience, whether they be

sports teams, special interest clubs, political groups, or any other of a wide variety of

extracurricular experiences. Over the years, Ferris State University has been no different in this

regard. However, our changing world has altered the face of the typical university, bringing in

new students beyond the traditional ages of college students with their own unique life concerns

to juggle alongside their studies. New technology has enabled students to join the school from far

beyond the Big Rapids community through online platforms such as Zoom. These additions to

the student population found fitting into the college’s culture a challenge even before a global

pandemic ground every student’s social life to a halt. These factors combine to form an

environment of increased boredom and alienation among the increasingly diverse student body.

By increasing the number of campus activities and working to bring a wider variety of students

into the Ferris community, the university could increase student involvement and, in turn,

enhance student morale and achievement while improving student retention rates and attract a

greater number of students.

Current Situation of Student Activities

A search through Ferris’ website reveals a wide variety of student organizations. These

range from fifteen collegiate sports teams alongside twenty club-level sports to numerous

fraternities and sororities. Seemingly every conceivable major has its own student organization,

from accounting to welding. Special interest groups exist for activities as diverse as esports,

anime, and botany, along with several political organizations. However, a closer look at this list

of organizations shows rather low participation among the 272 groups listed. Few groups are
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noted with more than a couple dozen members while many times that number report membership

in the single digits. Even a large number and wide variety of student organizations doesn’t seem

to draw much engagement.

We created a survey of students to get a better idea of the types of students attending

Ferris State as well as their views on campus activities. We received responses from 32 students.

We began with some basic demographic data and found that most respondents fall within the

traditional age range of 17-22 but slightly over a third of students are older than that. A solid

25% of those polled were 30 or older (Figure 1). We also asked whether students lived on

campus in the dormitories, were commuter students, or were fully online. Nearly half of those

polled stated they were commuter students and slightly over one third were completely online.

Of the commuter student population, slightly over 80% reported they lived either in Big Rapids

or within 15 minutes of school (Figure 2).

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Figure 1

A graph derived from our survey indicating the age demographics of respondents.

Figure 2

A graph derived from our survey indicating the student type demographic.
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We also asked commuter and online students how well the university meets their needs

for extracurricular activities. Commuter students rated this more evenly, though of the 18

respondents, eight rated this as below average while five rated this as average (Figure 3). Online

students, however, skewed more negative, with most of the 17 responses rating the university’s

jobs as below average, only four ranking it as above average (Figure 4).

Figure 3

A graph derived from our survey depicting how commuter students feel extracurricular activities

meet their needs.

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Figure 4

A graph derived from our survey describing how online students feel extracurricular activities

meet their needs.

Perhaps the most telling information we received was when we asked how much students

felt like a part of the university’s culture. Responses showed a pronounced negative trend, with

nine respondents choosing the lowest option possible (Figure 5).

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Figure 5

A graph derived from our survey shows how respondents feel a part of campus culture.

These findings were underscored during interviews conducted by our group. We

interviewed an RSO (Registered Student Organization) leader of a sorority, a professor of

science/biology, and five regular college students chosen at random, all of which were aged 18-

22 with four living on campus and the other a commuter. These five students stated they did not

attend campus activities due to reasons including a lack of awareness of activities, lack of

motivation, and a general unwillingness to participate. We received similar responses on our

online survey, where we asked whether there are any social roadblocks that made respondents

feel distant from other students. Two people commented that they did not perceive any

roadblocks but the rest of the 14 responses mentioned several things. One person said that the

clubs and activities already present need more exposure, perhaps more prominence on Ferris’
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website. A few others mentioned social distancing guidelines due to the pandemic making them

feel more alienated. One commented that being a solely online student made them feel distant

because there are not many opportunities for online students to become involved. Another

mentioned the age gap for non-traditional students being an impediment and that students with

families might feel similarly.

These results are not an encouraging indicator of future success for Ferris students. A

study conducted by Ohio State University found that not only does student involvement have

positive effects on grades, brain development, psychological well being, and leadership skills,

but it also makes students more desirable to be potentially hired. In short, the more involved

students were with campus activities the more likely future employers were to hire them and

consider the students ‘career-ready’. Heavily involved students were found to be as much as

three times as likely to be hired over uninvolved students, according to this study (Ohio State

University, 2021).

The effects of insufficient student activities can manifest in ways beyond student morale.

Having plenty of available activities can be helpful for student retention yet according to Ferris’

data regarding fall-to-fall retention of first-time students, that rate has dipped from 75% in 2014-

15 to 71% in 2018-19, the latest year data is available for (Ferris State University, 2020). This

was before the COVID-19 pandemic and the online-based communications it necessitated, so the

retention rate may possibly be lower today. In addition, student enrollment has been declining at

Ferris for several years. The Torch, Ferris’ student newspaper, reported in September 2020 that

this past fall’s enrollment had dropped to 11,615, down from 13,250 in 2018 and 14,700 in 2015

(Hubbard, 2020). While the pandemic played a role in this year’s decline the trend has been in

place for several years. This decrease is occurring at universities across the state as fewer
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students graduate high school, but looking into the future, a more robust array of activities

targeting a wider variety of students could serve to make Ferris a more competitive option for

both graduating high school students and non-traditional students.

Finally, it should be noted once again that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a

major impact on people’s lives both on and off-campus but as we begin to make progress against

the virus with new vaccines we expect school activities to go back to somewhat normal levels. In

our online survey we asked about student’s feelings toward campus activities before and after the

pandemic. Before the pandemic, 19.4% thought of campus activities as fun, 32.3% found them

of medium fun, 9.7% felt they were boring, while 38.7% did not attend campus activities. During

COVID-19, only 3.6% thought campus activities to be fun, 14.3% felt they were medium fun,

those rating them as boring rose to 28.6%, and the percentage of non attending events increased

to 53.6%. When asked to comment on what students thought campus activity would be like

during the Fall 2021 semester, many expressed hopes that we would be almost back to normal

and more interactive. A smaller number thought there would be very little in the way of activities

to take part in, and a few commented that they are online students and so are not concerned. With

news that the university is aiming for approximately 84% of classes to be in-person this fall it

seems there is potential the school will see a greater amount of activity (Ferris State University,

2021). However, one professor we interviewed, Professor Workman, added, “I expect campus to

relate to past culture soon, but normal will not look identical to the past.” Looking forward, we

will likely move past the worst of the pandemic in the coming months but it’s lingering effects

will possibly hold a bit of influence over the types of activities offered going forward.
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Proposed Solutions for Improving Activities on Campus

As we begin to move past the COVID-19 pandemic and begin a return to more in-person

learning we find ourselves with a good opportunity to begin pushing for more student activities.

Things like masks will continue to be a staple of student life, as Professor Workman explained

that, “Students should be able to attend normal campus events in the near future, but they can

expect to do that by wearing a mask.” Even with these health practices in place we believe the

solutions to having greater student activities involves having the university take greater steps to

help promote student organizations as well as create opportunities to further involve certain

student populations that might not normally be able to have much involvement.

Our first solution is to work with the university to promote and increase visibility of each

student organization to help draw students to activities that already exist. Each student is unique

and has unique tastes of what they believe to be a fun and beneficial activity. Due to this, Ferris

has 272 groups currently listed. However, as stated before, the numbers for most groups are

miniscule. Only a few groups have more than a couple dozen members while most have less than

10, and there are a few ways to remedy this. As mentioned above, several students were not

aware of the different kinds of clubs and activities offered at Ferris. In order to alleviate this and

bring activities to light, a solution would be to push heavily on promoting existing clubs, groups,

and activities. There are several different methods to accomplish this, each with their own costs.

A very simple method of “spreading the word” of one’s organization would be to have postings,

listings, and overall promotion of the organization’s existence by either the leader or members.

The only cost to this method would be time by group members, and materials such as paper, ink,

staples, social media promotion costs, etc. The benefit of this solution would reside in its

simplicity and low cost. The major downside would be no public acknowledgement from the
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university, and it would rely on the students to be the ones able to accomplish the tasks to spread

the word. Advertisements could also be placed on social media platforms that students interact

with, such as Snapchat, Tiktok, Facebook, etc. A crucial part of these advertisements is shooting

video and avoiding pictures. Videos capture more emotions of excitement and can instill a

feeling of being left out if they do not attend the event. In the article “How to Use Emotions in

Videos” a Nielsen study stated, “emotional ads cause a 23% sales increase and connect a positive

emotional bond with the viewer.” (Lister, 2017). Many students watch Tiktok and Snapchat

videos frequently and are influenced by their impressions.

The next solution for more campus activity is a display of clubs via a large outdoor fair,

informing students the content/mission of the Registered Student Organization groups at Ferris.

Students meeting members of the RSO group and listening to what they have to say will help

motivate the students to become involved. RSO fairs may not be as effective when held online

because students have less interaction with group members, providing less positive incentive to

consider joining the group. In addition, students may not even be aware of an online RSO fair.

On the other hand, with an RSO fair outside on campus, more students would just be passing

through as they go about their day and could easily stop by a few booths and see what activities

and groups are available. In the past, smaller fairs have been put on by the university but these

were smaller in nature, with a more limited number of groups present and confined to a smaller

area inside a single building. With a large RSO fair on campus, students will feel more involved

with the campus culture by being directly exposed to all the school’s organizations. Figure 6

shows an example of a booth at the University of Iowa College of Nursing’s Multicultural

Nursing Association’s student organization at a fair, advertising their organization, along with

others (University of Iowa, 2017).

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Figure 6

Example of a promotional booth

(The University of Iowa, 2017)

Another potential solution to increase student activities on campus is to work with the

university to further publicize available groups. While this may have more complexities and

involve more people it has several potential benefits. There are several different resources and

forms of media that a university has that students do not. This includes their website, campus-

wide email and announcements, faculty and staff, and the means to host events. The main benefit

of this method is using preexisting media channels to increase distribution of student

organization information and generate increased awareness. The university could also make a

change to its website to make it easier to find information on campus activities. Currently,

information on student organization is found behind a non-prominent link on a Current Students

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page accessible only through a cluttered drop-down menu on the school’s main page. Unless a

person was tenacious in looking for the link for student groups, they may well walk away empty-

handed. By working with the school to make a link to the list of student groups much more

prominent on Ferris’ main page we could make it far easier for students and prospective students

to find ways to become more involved. In order to accomplish this there are several different

individuals within the administration that can be contacted, namely, Eric Hazen (Web Marketing

Manager), Anne Hogenson (Director of Marketing, Christa Bull (Senior Graphic Designer) and

Hannah Crouch (Digital Media Specialist).

In the survey we conducted we found that many students do not fit into the traditional

standard of living on-campus and in the age range of 17-22 but instead live off campus and

commute or take their classes completely online. Many respondents are over the age of 22 with

some over 30, possibly with a different set of living circumstances and responsibilities such as

families and jobs. Additionally, while Ferris looks to go back to mostly in-person classes in the

Fall of 2021 there will still remain some online classes and online students. As mentioned in the

survey, many of these non-traditional students do not feel that the school meets their needs for

extracurricular activities. One way the university could remedy this is by creating organizations

for non-traditional students, as some universities around the country have done. For example, the

University of Maine has had a Nontraditional Students Association since 2006 that works to aid

these students in areas such as adjusting to college life, advocating for them in school-related

matters, providing mentoring and networking opportunities, and to foster understanding between

these non-traditional students, faculty, and the administration (University of Maine, 2019).

Another example comes from Rutgers University, which has the Rutgers Commuter Student

Organization, a group that advocates for commuter students in governing bodies throughout the
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university to work toward better policies to bring commuter students into the school’s

community. This group also works to promote commuter student collaboration with other

student groups in the university’s system (Rutgers, 2021). These kinds of initiatives could be

expanded to cater to online students as well to promote their interests to Ferris’ administration.

Programs such as this could be implemented fairly easily as they require participants, some

faculty or administration to oversee them, and some pre-existing space on campus or online

infrastructure for meetings.

Qualifications

Ethan Wierenga is a fully online transfer student living out of state, who is in his first

year at Ferris. Thomas Lapeer is a non-traditional student who has returned to college after over

a decade out of school. He commutes nearly an hour to class and is in his second year at Ferris.

Andrew Bueche is a traditional student living in Big Rapids in his first year at Ferris after

transferring. Together we bring three different viewpoints on this problem, which has aided us

with discovering the problem and developing solutions.

Cost and Benefits

One of the benefits of our plan is that our ideas can be implemented in a relatively

inexpensive manner. According to Ferris’ Fiscal Year 2021 Approved General Fund Budget

Allocations, the budget for university recreation accounts for .28% of funding, which amounts to

$565,678. Given this information, Ferris State can fund student activity and should be put toward

the continued funding of RSO events, including event fairs and supporting new RSOs for

nontraditional students, and helping with getting the word out. Also, many of our solutions

involve resources such as faculty and administration to run events and university employees to
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make changes to the school’s website, all of whom are already employed by the school and so

would not require additional money. The university already owns plenty of buildings and

outdoor space for events so it would not need to spend money to create space for activities. The

individual student organizations may need to spend small amounts of money for supplies for

things like posters and presentations for booths at RSO fairs but platforms like social media can

be used inexpensively and pictures and video could be made with a cellphone, if necessary.

When money is being spent for students on campus activities, what is the trade off? The

university can give students an escape from their stressed-out lives and inspire them to pursue

their goals as they become immersed in the campus’ culture. These solutions would also work to

bring a wider group of students into campus activities that might normally be ignored. Ferris

State would also benefit from the positive word-of-mouth of students who enjoy the activities.

This can improve the school’s image and aid student recruitment in a time of declining

enrollment.

Extracurricular activities are an essential part of the college experience at any university.

By working to make school activities more accessible and inclusive for a more dynamic student

population Ferris can stand out and make itself a more attractive option for students now and in

the future. If you would like to discuss these ideas further, we would be more than happy to meet

with you. Thank you for your time and taking our ideas into consideration.
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Resources

Ferris State University. (2020). Ferris State University - Retention Rate Full-Time FTIAC

Students. Retention Rate Data.

https://www.ferris.edu/admissions/testing/tableau/retention-rate.htm.

Ferris State University. (2020, December 1). FY 2021 General Fund Budget Allocations.

Budgetary Planning and Analysis Information.

https://www.ferris.edu/administration/president/budget-office/information.htm.

Ferris State University. (2021, March). Ferris State University Returning to In-Person Classes

This Fall . Ferris News.

https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/archive/2021/march/operations.htm.

Hubbard, A. (2020, September 29). Enrollment drops from 13,250 to 11,165 in two years. The

Ferris State Torch. https://fsutorch.com/2020/09/29/enrollment-drops-from-13250-to-

11165-in-two-years/.

Lister, M. (2017, March 8). 37 Staggering Video Marketing Statistics for 2018. Wordstream.

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/03/08/video-marketing-statistics.

Ohio State University. (2021). Involvement in College Matters. Center for the Study of Student

Life. https://cssl.osu.edu/research-projects/involvement-study.

Rutgers University. (2021). Commuter Involvement. Student Centers and Activities.

http://involvement.rutgers.edu/commuter-resources/commuter-involvement/.
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University of Iowa. (2017, August 30). Student Organization Fair. College of Liberal Arts and

Sciences. https://clas.uiowa.edu/global-health-studies/events/student-organization-fair.

University of Maine. (2019). Student Organizations. Commuter & Non-traditional Student

Programs. https://umaine.edu/cntsp/studentorgs/.