College Students As Customers

The student as customer (SAC) approach leads students to believe that they deserve grades that they didn't earn, and are entitled to complain if they don't receive them, according to a pair of researchers.

The two conducted a survey of 1,025 undergraduate students at the University of South Alabama in the spring of 2008 and presented their findings at the 24th Annual Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference in April. Of those surveyed, 52 percent perceived themselves as customers of the university, responding positively to the statement, "As a student, I believe that my role is that of a customer of the university."

After measuring other attitudes and behaviors, including entitlement, satisfaction with the university, attitude toward complaining, and involvement with education, the researchers found that students who considered themselves customers of their university were more likely to feel entitled to complain--regardless of their satisfaction with the university--but they were not any more involved in their education than were other students.

This study demonstrates the unintended consequences of treating students as customers, which seems to be a trend over the last few decades. The researchers suggests treating students as co-producers, rather than customers.