Student Questionnaires

What are the Student Questionnaires?
As a membership service, ATS offers a variety of surveys called Student Questionnaires that help schools to understand and track their students and alumni/ae, benchmark their findings in the context of trends in theological education, and inform the work of educational and institutional assessment.

• The surveys track demographics, levels of debt, motivations for entering seminary, satisfaction with the effectiveness of the education received, and professional plans and experiences.

• ATS provides three surveys: the Entering Student Questionnaire (ESQ), Graduating Student Questionnaire (GSQ), and Alumni/ae Questionnaire (AQ).

• ATS also offers webinars, an annual workshop, and an online community for those administering and interpreting data from the student questionnaires. If you are a coordinator from a member school, visit Engage ATS and search for the “ATS Student Questionnaires” community.

Resources for Using the Questionnaires
Resources for using the questionnaires include an FAQ sheet, sample questionnaires, sample reports, and resources for using the Qs in educational and institutional assessment.

Process for Administering Questionnaires

Step 1: Complete Questionnaire (Qs) Order Form to gain access to the QMI system.
Please allow 3–5 business days for review of your order.

Step 2: Activate your QMI account.
Follow the steps in your activation email.

Step 3: Set up Qs batches. If you need assistance, book an orientation call.
Select “full year” if you plan to survey students using the same Qs batch over multiple terms this year.

Step 4: Share the survey link with students and encourage their participation with gentle reminders.
See the Administrator's Manual and Email Template for Contacting Students for help.

Step 5: Review all student submissions to disallow any known duplicate entries.
Consider whether to utilize completion receipt codes. See the Administrator's Manual for details.

Step 6: Once you have collected and reviewed all Qs responses, submit the batch as soon as you can. Please allow 2–3 weeks for processing. We will send you a link to view and download your student data (ShareFile).

Note: The Alumni/ae Questionnaire (AQ) differs from the Entering Student Questionnaire (ESQ) and Graduating Student Questionnaire (GSQ) in both purpose and timing. The AQ is designed to gather insights on alumni experiences and outcomes after they have completed their formal studies, typically administered three to five years post-graduation. In contrast, the ESQ and GSQ follow regular annual reporting cycles. Although the AQ does not have fixed deadlines like the ESQ and GSQ, ATS recommends that schools review and submit AQ batches promptly, and no later than three months after collecting responses. See this page for more information.

Submission Deadlines

Below are helpful deadlines for participating member schools to keep in mind as they collect questionnaire responses and submit survey batches to ATS for processing and inclusion in the annual Total School Profile report.

Access a printable PDF version with the below deadlines.

Entering Student Questionnaire (ESQ)
Starting Aug. 2025	Collect ESQ fall/full year responses	Starting Apr. 2026	Collect spring ESQ responses
Oct. 15, 2025	Submission deadline: ESQ fall batch*	June 15, 2026	Submission deadline: ESQ spring batch (if applicable)
Nov. 3, 2025	ESQ Total School Profile (fall only, preliminary) published	July 15, 2026	Submission deadline: ESQ summer and full year batches*
Nov. 19, 2025, 2–3 p.m. ET	ESQ webinar: 2025 preliminary Total School Profile	Aug. 3, 2026	ESQ Total School Profile published (final), includes all terms
Starting Dec. 2025	Collect winter ESQ responses	Nov. 18, 2025, 2–3 p.m. ET	ESQ webinar: 2026 preliminary Total School Profile
Jan. 30, 2026	Submission deadline: ESQ winter batch (if applicable)

*denotes inclusion in Total School Profile reports

2024–25 Graduating Student Questionnaire (GSQ)
July 25, 2025	Submission deadline: all GSQ batches (if applicable)
Sept. 1, 2025	GSQ Total School Profile published (final)
Sept. 17, 2025, 2–3 p.m. ET	GSQ webinar: 2024–25 Total School Profile

2025–26 Graduating Student Questionnaire
Starting Nov. 2025	Collect GSQ fall/full year responses	Starting June 2026	Collect summer GSQ responses
Starting Dec. 2025	Collect winter GSQ responses	July 30, 2026	Submission deadline: all GSQ batches*
Jan. 23, 2026	Submission deadline: GSQ winter batch (if applicable)	Sept. 1, 2026	GSQ Total School Profile published (final)
Starting Apr. 2026	Collect spring GSQ responses	Sept. 16, 2026, 2–3 p.m. ET	GSQ webinar: 2025–26 Total School Profile

*denotes inclusion in Total School Profile reports

Pricing Guide

Entering Student Questionnaire (ESQ) or Graduating Student Questionnaire (GSQ)

Online access via QMI (see NOTES) for the academic year and includes:
• one full-color, 50+-page PDF report per eligible batch
• one raw data spreadsheet in Excel (XLSX) format per eligible batch
• option to have eligible batches compiled into one PDF report
• inclusion in annual ATS Total School Profile report
• inclusion in any composite group report (determined by ATS staff)
• access to digital/remote training, webinars, workshops, and consultations
• one-on-one administrative/technical support for your coordinator

$400
or
$600 both

Alumni Questionnaire (AQ)

Online access via QMI (see NOTES) for the academic year and includes:
• one survey batch for a single graduating class (or multiple classes combined)
• one full-color, 70+-page PDF report per eligible batch
• one raw data spreadsheet in Excel (XLSX) format per batch
• access to digital/remote training, webinars, workshops, and consultations
• one-on-one administrative/technical support for your coordinator

$400

Optional Item Fees
Administrative fee for additional QMI cohort environment (see NOTES) Consult ATS Student Data Services staff whether setting up separate instances of the same instrument is right for you. (Example: multiple AQ graduating classes	$300 one-time fee each cohort
Retrieving raw data or replacing reports from any academic year prior to current	$50 per file
Contact Qmail@ats.edu* for custom reporting options and pricing.*

NOTES

• Access to the ATS Questionnaire Management Interface (QMI) resets annually (ending July 31).
• Use custom questions to disaggregate raw data without needing to pay for additional cohorts.
• See Resources for Using the Questionnaires web page or email Qmail@ats.edu for support.

ATS Student Data Services

• Total School Profile reports, which summarize entering/graduating student data from participating ATS member schools

• Relevant ATS research reports and articles

• Recent webinar recordings

Questions?
Qmail@ats.edu

Christopher M. The

412-788-6505, ext. 253

the@ats.edu

Christopher M. The (pronounced ‘tay’) equips ATS member schools to improve and enhance their educational missions by gathering, analyzing, and disseminating insights from student data. As director of student research and initiative management, he also oversees the virtual infrastructure for ATS grant-funded initiatives and liaises with coordination program personnel for the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative of the Lilly Endowment Inc. He came to ATS in 2017, having served multivocational roles in student services (Fuller Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University) and student/young adult ministry at an Indonesian American congregation in the American Baptist tradition. Prior to 2022, he served the ATS Commission on Accrediting as director of commission information services.

A former English Ministry pastor at two Asian American churches in Southern California, The was raised in a Chinese-Indonesian immigrant congregation in the Reformed tradition and later ordained to ministry by a Chinese/Taiwanese church in the Pentecostal tradition. A selected participant in the 2014 Summit for Future Theological Educators of Color and Summit on Christian Leadership (Forum for Theological Exploration), he was named a 2016 fellow of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) and represents the Religious Liberty Council on the BJC board of directors. He has published refereed articles and contributed to book chapters on resourcing immigrant churches for civic engagement, leveraging evaluative principles for character formation in theological education, understanding the unique mentorship needs of doctoral students of color, and surveying the placement of diasporic Indonesian communities among world Christianities. His dissertation involved qualitative research on the congregational formation of Indonesian American emerging adults at two Los Angeles-area churches.

A co-editor and contributing author for the anthology Kristianitas-Kristianitas di Asia Tenggara (Christianities in Southeast Asia, 2022), The also serves on the editorial board for the SINTA-accredited Indonesian Journal of Theology. He holds BA (music) and MA (religion) degrees from Azusa Pacific University, and MDiv and PhD (theology) degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Mary Boyle

412-788-6505, ext. 221

boyle@ats.edu

Mary Boyle serves as the administrative assistant for student data at The Association of Theological Schools (ATS). She assists with the Entering, Graduating, and Alumni Questionnaires for member schools—producing and distributing reports from the data.

Boyle joined ATS as a part-time business assistant in October 2019. She handled routine accounting functions and payroll timekeeping, provided clerical and administrative support for different departments as needed, and helped with meetings held at the ATS office.

Upcoming Events

ATS Student Data Services Drop-In Session
August 15
12–1 p.m. ET
Zoom

Featured Resources:

Annual data tables show notable enrollment changes across ATS schools

Upcoming changes for ATS Student Questionnaires

Average age of students rising: emerging opportunities for theological schools

ATS Student Questionnaires now available in four additional languages

A guide to using student questionnaire data in the self-study process

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Student Questionnaires