# NCHA Frequently Asked Questions ***What is the National College Health Assessment survey?*** The National College Health Assessment is a national health survey administered by the American College Health Association (ACHA). It aids individual colleges and universities in surveying their student population to better understand the health and wellbeing needs of their communities. ***When is the survey, how will students receive it and how long will they have to take it?*** Harvard undergraduate and graduate students will receive the survey on Monday, Nov. 8 at approximately 7pm. It will be sent to their Harvard email address and will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Reminder emails will be sent to students who have yet to complete the survey on Thursday, Nov. 11; Monday, Nov. 15; and Thursday, Nov. 18. ***Who is being asked to participate in the survey?*** All undergraduate and graduate students at Harvard are being asked to participate, with a few exceptions, such as anyone under the age of 18 or anyone who is excluded due to FERPA considerations. ***Is the survey confidential or anonymous?*** The Survey is confidential. Once you submit your survey there is no way for Harvard to see a student’s individual responses or connect an email address to a student’s answers. ***What is being done to protect student and campus data privacy?*** ACHA agrees to use the student email address provided by the institution for the sole purpose of requesting student participation in the survey. The email addresses are used only for a single survey effort and not retained for future ACHA initiatives at the same school. During data collection the email addresses are stored on a password protected secure server in the cloud. Student email addresses are never shared with another party nor used to any other purpose. After the data collection period ends and before the survey results are released to the campus, the files containing student email addresses are deleted from the NCHA-ACHA files. ***How will the response data be used?*** The data will help Harvard better understand the needs of its student population. The data and aggregated results will inform programming, services, and more. ***When will the results be available?*** Spring 2022. ***Will Harvard report the results publicly and if so, at what level?*** Aggregated data results will be shared via public reports with the Harvard campus community through various channels such as the HUHS website. The data will be reported as: Overall Harvard student respondents, Harvard College student respondents, and Harvard graduate/professional School student respondents. Aside from Harvard College, individual School-level data will not be reported publicly. ***Will Harvard’s results be compared to other colleges and universities?*** One of the benefits of the national scope of the survey is that Harvard data, in an aggregated form, can be compared and benchmarked alongside other institutions. This comparison is beneficial in identifying trends and informing health-related programs and services. ***Will students have to finish the survey in one sitting?*** No. The survey takes approximately 30 minutes. Each student will be sent their own unique link. This means that students can go back to their invitation email from ACHA/NCHA and start the survey where they left off. ***Will the results of this survey be used in the shaping of future health services' programs?*** Yes. We will look at the report to determine where there are gaps in the programming and services. The data will also help us to determine if there are emerging health and wellbeing topics that are of importance to the Harvard student population.