Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 73.33
Liaison Maria Dahmus
Submission Date Nov. 30, 2023

STARS v2.2

University of St. Thomas
OP-16: Commute Modal Split

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.27 / 5.00 Rachel Schauer
Program Manager
Office of Sustainability Initiatives
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total full-time equivalent student enrollment:
8,114

Full-time equivalent of employees:
1,597

Part 1. Student commute modal split

Has the institution gathered data about student commuting behavior?:
Yes

Total percentage of students that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation:
72.43

A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about student commuting:
We gathered data about student commuting from responses to a campus sustainability survey that was administered in October 2023 to the entire university community. All 9,143 students, including undergraduate and graduate, received the survey. 10.43% (n=954) of the recipients responded to the question about their primary mode of transportation to and from campus.

Among students, the male/female split of respondents was 37%/62% while the population is roughly evenly split (51%/48%); white respondents were slightly overrepresented (+7.5%). The state of representation was similar to 2020 with the exception that graduate students were represented better this time than in 2020 and underclass years were more balanced this year than in past surveys. In 2020, graduate students (-9.2%) were slightly underrepresented and freshmen were overrepresented by 7.7%.

Part 2. Employee commute modal split

Has the institution gathered data about employee commuting behavior?:
Yes

Total percentage of employees that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation:
30.24

A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about employee commuting:
We gathered data about employee commuting from responses to a campus sustainability survey that was administered in October 2023 to the entire university community. All 1,996 employees, including faculty and staff, received the survey. 33.47% (n=668) of the recipients responded to the question about their primary mode of transportation to and from campus.

Among those completing the survey, full time staff were slightly overrepresented (+14.7%) and adjunct faculty were slightly underrepresented (-14.3%).

Optional Fields 

Percentage of students and employees that use the following as their primary mode of transportation:
Percentage of students (0-100) Percentage of employees (0-100)
Single-occupancy vehicle 27.25 68.71
Zero-emissions vehicle 0.42 1.95
Walk, cycle, or other non-motorized mode 59.64 9.73
Vanpool or carpool 2.62 2.99
Public transport or campus shuttle 4.30 3.44
Motorcycle, motorized scooter/bike, or moped 0.21 0.90
Distance education / telecommute 5.24 11.23

Website URL where information about student or employee commuting is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The figures above do not add up to 100% because 0.31% (n=3) of students and 1.05% (n=7) of employees selected "other" or more than one mode of transportation.

This credit provides the total full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrollment and FTE of employees for fall 2023, to match the period when the transportation survey was administered. As a result, FTE figures reported in this credit differ from those reported in the PRE 5, which is based on fall 2022. The number of employees that received the survey is greater than the full-time equivalent of employees because the survey was sent to all part and full-time employees.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.