It is administered to the entire population (census) of students, rather than a sample.
It integrates institutional data from university records to provide basic demographic and educational variables such as ethnicity, age, and grade point averages.
The modular format magnifies the scope of the survey without increasing completion time and jeopardizing response rates. Each student is asked a common core of items about academic engagement and demographics followed by a randomly assigned topical module. Consequently, administrators and researchers have a broader view of the student experience covering not just academics but also civic engagement, moral and psychological development, and experience with campus programs and services.
The wild card module allows each campus to specify a customized set of important topical items of interest to campus constituents. At Berkeley, recent topics include students' RRR week and final exam experiences (2011), undergraduates' connection to UC Berkeley through graduation and beyond (2009), advising and mentoring (2008), diversity (2007), and technology (2006).
It contains costs, very effectively, by employing a strictly web-based survey tool and relying on email as the primary form of contacting students.