The Advisor Quality Survey: Good College Advisors are Available, Knowledgeable, and Autonomy Supportive

Most US institutions of higher education do not assess advisor quality. We report a scale development effort informed by the developmental prescriptions of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000). The 15-item Missouri Advisor Quality Survey assesses advisor knowledge, advisor availability, and advisor autonomy supportiveness. Across 3 studies the three factors were distinguishable, and each contributed independently to predicting students’ global satisfaction with their advisor’s performance. Autonomy support was the strongest of the three variables, predicting not only student satisfaction but also the amount of time advisors spend with the student, student cumulative GPA, and student current semester GPA controlling for cumulative GPA.