A list of questions is not much help if you have never heard a good answer to compare against. Each of these comes with both, and where the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) has published an answer, it is here, so you can hold us to the same standard.
Send these ahead of a conversation. Say you need written answers for an internal approval process,
which is true and makes the request routine rather than pointed.
Where a box below reads Our answer, that is what the NSLS has published, with the source
listed at the end. Where a question has no such box, nothing is published on it, and saying so
seemed better than filling the space.
The program first, because content is the thing operations cannot rescue. Assessment last, because
it is the question you will most wish you had asked before a cohort started.
One question is missing on purpose. There is no pricing to ask us about. Hosting a chapter costs
your institution nothing, and what it costs explains what
students pay and why that is separate.
The program itself
Start here. Content quality is the one thing good operations cannot fix later, and it is also the part your faculty colleagues will look at first.
Who wrote the curriculum, and when was it last revised in a way students would notice?
A straight answer sounds like
Named authors with stated credentials, a described review process, and a revision cycle with a date attached. It should feel like a conversation about a syllabus.
A vague answer sounds like
An answer about popularity or scale instead of content: how many campuses use it, how much students enjoy it. Reach is not a content claim. "Continuously updated" with no date usually means no cycle.
Our answer
The NSLS publishes an annually updated curriculum, structured as three levels with a certificate track and a credit-recommended track at each. Ask your NSLS representative about the most recent revision.
How much time does this actually take a student, and over what period?
A straight answer sounds like
Hours to complete, spread across a stated period, with the parts students find hardest to schedule volunteered rather than extracted.
A vague answer sounds like
"It is self-paced," offered as the whole answer. Self-paced describes delivery, not workload, and a student working thirty hours a week needs the number.
Our answer
Five steps: orientation, a two-hour Leadership Training Day, three Speaker Broadcasts, three Success Networking Team meetings, and induction, which usually takes place in a ceremony. Around ten hours in total, typically inside one semester. Credit-recommended courses run longer, averaging about thirty hours, and learners have up to three semesters.
What does our campus have to provide?
A straight answer sounds like
A short, specific list, with the staff time stated as a number of hours rather than an adjective, and a clear line between what you provide and what arrives ready to use.
A vague answer sounds like
"Everything is handled." Something is always needed from the institution, usually a staff member and a way for the program to exist in your structure, and naming it early is what keeps week one calm.
Our answer
Two things: an advisor, at roughly 10 to 20 hours per semester, and recognition for the chapter on campus. The NSLS provides the curriculum, the chapter portal, executive board training, six speaker broadcasts a year, marketing kits, and a dedicated success team. Hosting a chapter costs the institution nothing. There are no chapter dues and no fees. Students who accept their nomination pay a one-time enrollment fee.
Who it actually reaches
This group decides whether the program serves the students you were worried about, or only the students who were already going to be fine.
Is the online or asynchronous version the whole program, or a lighter one?
A straight answer sounds like
A specific account of what differs, if anything, and an offer to walk you through the asynchronous student experience end to end rather than describe it. If something genuinely is lost online, a straight answer names it.
A vague answer sounds like
"Exactly the same," said quickly and without detail. Something is usually different, and not naming it suggests nobody has looked closely at your online students.
Our answer
The NSLS is published as available in person, virtually, and fully asynchronously, with a National Online Chapter for students at institutions without one. Ask to see the asynchronous experience directly rather than described.
How does this work for a student working thirty hours a week?
A straight answer sounds like
Concrete scheduling detail, an honest account of where the friction sits, and a clear line between what is flexible and what is fixed.
A vague answer sounds like
A general statement about flexibility, or a pivot to how much such a student would benefit. That was an operational question and benefits are not an operational answer.
Who is eligible, and who decides?
A straight answer sounds like
The criteria stated plainly, with clarity about which are yours to set and which are not, and an answer for the student who would benefit but does not meet the threshold.
A vague answer sounds like
Criteria that move during the conversation, or selectivity offered as a selling point without a rule you could apply consistently and explain to a student who was not invited.
Our answer
Students are nominated by their campus. The NSLS FAQ describes nomination as typically extended to less than 5% of the student population, and self-nomination with a faculty endorsement is also possible.
What does participation look like for a student who needs accommodations?
A straight answer sounds like
A named accessibility standard for the platform and materials, a documented accommodation process, and a person who owns it. Anyone who has been asked this before has a document.
A vague answer sounds like
Reassurance without documentation, or redirection to your own accessibility office as though the platform were not their responsibility. Either way, have your accessibility colleague review any platform themselves.
Your staff, and year three
This is where a program either fits inside your division’s real capacity or quietly absorbs a colleague. Ask for numbers throughout, and ask what happens after the people currently involved have moved on.
How many hours a semester does this ask of our advisor?
A straight answer sounds like
A number, a breakdown of where it goes, and a distinction between the first semester and a settled one. They are not the same.
A vague answer sounds like
"Turn-key," "minimal lift," "we handle everything." Those are positions, not figures. You cannot plan a workload around an adjective or hold anyone to one.
Our answer
Roughly 10 to 20 hours per semester: a trained student executive board leads each chapter alongside the advisor, and the NSLS provides the programming. The breakdown is on the advisor time commitment page.
Who do we call, and how quickly do they answer?
A straight answer sounds like
A named role, a stated response-time expectation, and a described handover when that person moves on. Turnover on their side should be treated as a normal event with a procedure attached.
A vague answer sounds like
A generic support address, or a single named individual with no role behind them, which is worse than it sounds, because your continuity then depends on one person’s tenure somewhere else.
Our answer
A dedicated success team is published as part of the program, along with executive board training and help recruiting chapter leaders. Ask your NSLS representative about response times for your campus.
What happens to the chapter when our advisor leaves?
A straight answer sounds like
A described transition, materials that live somewhere other than one person’s inbox, and student leadership that carries on independently. Examples, ideally.
A vague answer sounds like
Surprise at the question. Advisor turnover is the most predictable event in student affairs, and anyone who has not planned for it will hand your successor a rebuild.
Our answer
Chapters are student-led with executive board training and an all-inclusive chapter portal, which is the structural answer: the work does not live only with the advisor. Ask your NSLS representative how advisor transitions have gone on campuses like yours.
Who does the recruiting, and what is our part of it?
A straight answer sounds like
A clear division of labour, described concretely, covering what gets sent, when, to whom, and using what data, with their asks of you stated up front.
A vague answer sounds like
"We handle recruitment," with no mechanism. Recruitment always needs something from the institution, usually a student list and a term calendar, and whoever will not name it will ask for it in week one.
Our answer
Managed engagement and recruitment, marketing kits, and help recruiting chapter leaders are published as included. Ask specifically which data your campus is asked to share, and route that past your registrar before agreeing to anything.
What students earn, and what you can show
The first half of this group protects students; the second protects you, in the semester when someone asks what changed. Both are easier to settle before a cohort starts than after.
Exactly what does a student receive, and who stands behind it?
A straight answer sounds like
Precise names: a certificate of completion, a digital badge, an accredited program, a credit recommendation, with the issuing body identified for each. Those are four different things.
A vague answer sounds like
Blending them. "Accredited certification with college credit" is three claims fused into one phrase, and fusing them is how students end up misinformed.
Our answer
The NSLS is a leadership honor society accredited by Cognia, and holds credit recommendations through NCCRS and ACE on three courses: FOL 102, ADV 202, and EXEC 302. Completing Foundations of Leadership is what earns induction. Inducted members also unlock personalized recommendation letters and exclusive scholarships.
Is this credit?
A straight answer sounds like
"It is a credit recommendation, a recommendation that institutions consider awarding credit. Transfer varies by institution, and a student should confirm with their own registrar." A straight answer volunteers that hedge before you ask.
A vague answer sounds like
"Students earn college credit." That is inaccurate about a credit recommendation, and it is the claim most likely to reach your students and set an expectation nobody can meet.
Our answer
The NSLS states that transferring credit recommendations varies by institution and directs students to their registrar. No public list of accepting institutions exists, so nobody, us included, can tell you in advance what your institution will accept. The distinction is worked through on the accreditation and credit page.
What assessment arrives, and can we see the instrument?
A straight answer sounds like
The instrument itself, or a redacted version, plus what it measures and how it was validated. Scrutiny of the item wording should be welcome.
A vague answer sounds like
A dashboard image in place of an instrument. A dashboard shows conclusions; you asked for the measurement, and only the measurement tells you whether the conclusions are worth anything.
Our answer
Annual program assessments are published as part of the program. Ask your NSLS representative about the instrument and what your campus would receive.
Can we get participation data tied to our own student identifiers?
A straight answer sounds like
Yes, with the fields, the format, the cadence, and how identifiers are matched. This is what lets you join participation to your own persistence data and produce evidence you own.
A vague answer sounds like
Aggregate reporting only, or a custom report offered as a substitute. A supplied summary is someone else’s analysis of their own program, which is not what a program review is asking you for.
If time is short
The three worth asking first
Most soft answers are worth a follow-up rather than a conclusion. These three are the ones hardest to
recover from once students have started.
How many hours a semester does this ask of our advisor? As a number. For the NSLS
it is roughly 10 to 20, broken down on
the advisor time commitment page.
Is this credit, or a credit recommendation? The accurate answer is that a course
can carry a credit recommendation and that transfer varies by institution. See
accreditation and credit for what that means in
practice.
What happens the semester after our advisor leaves? The structural answer is
whether a trained student board runs the chapter day to day. If one does, a departure is a handover.
Explore the program, responsibilities, and next steps with our partnerships team.
Questions about the questions
What should we ask before bringing a leadership program to campus?
Group your questions four ways. The program itself: who wrote the curriculum, when it was last revised, how many hours it asks of a student, and what your campus has to provide. Who it reaches: whether the asynchronous version is the whole program, how it works for a student working thirty hours a week, who is eligible and who decides, and how accommodations are handled. Your staff and year three: advisor hours per semester, who you call and how fast they answer, what happens when your advisor leaves, and who does the recruiting. What students earn and what you can show: exactly what a student receives and who stands behind it, whether it is credit or a credit recommendation, what assessment arrives, and whether you can get participation data tied to your own student identifiers.
If we only have one conversation, what should we ask?
Three things. How many hours a semester this asks of your advisor, stated as a number. Whether a student receives credit or a credit recommendation, in precise words. And what happens to the chapter the semester after your advisor leaves. Those three cover the situations that are hardest to recover from once students have started.
What does hosting an NSLS chapter cost our institution?
Nothing. There are no chapter dues and no fees to your institution. The NSLS is funded by students who choose to accept their nomination and join, and by optional purchases such as the NSLS Shop. What your campus provides is an advisor at roughly 10 to 20 hours per semester and recognition for the chapter.
How do we ask for written answers without it feeling adversarial?
Say plainly that you need written answers for an internal approval process, because you do. Framing it as institutional procedure makes it routine, and anyone capable will have most of it documented already. Sending the questions ahead of a conversation also makes the conversation shorter and more useful for both sides.
How does the NSLS handle its own published figures?
With the source stated. Named institutional retention outcomes, such as Delgado Community College reporting 81 percent semester-to-semester retention for inducted students, nearly 20 percent above its institutional rate, come from those institutions and are cited with their source. When any figure is quoted to you, ask for the denominator and the collection method.
Sources. The advisor commitment of roughly 10 to 20 hours per semester, the annually
updated curriculum, six broadcast speakers a year, annual program assessments, managed engagement and
recruitment, marketing kits, the chapter portal, the dedicated success team, and delivery in person,
virtually and fully asynchronously:
info.nsls.org/our-program. Executive board training,
help recruiting chapter leaders, and the statement that 95% of chapters
continue every year:
nsls.org/our-program. The five-step member journey,
the roughly ten-hour completion estimate, campus nomination and the "less than 5%" figure, the
one-time student enrollment fee with lifetime Members Area access, recommendation letters and
scholarships for inducted members, and the National Online Chapter:
nsls.org/faq. The 8% figure appears on the nsls.org homepage
and differs from the FAQ's; both are noted rather than reconciled. Curriculum levels, the certificate
and credit-recommended tracks, FOL 102, ADV 202 and EXEC 302, and the roughly thirty-hour average for
credit-recommended courses:
nsls.org/leadership-education-programs.
Cognia accreditation and the NCCRS and ACE credit recommendations:
nsls.org/accreditation-and-recommendation-service-providers.
Transfer varying by institution, students directed to their registrar, and no public list of accepting
institutions: nsls.org/credit-reciprocity.
Delgado Community College's retention outcome is published verbatim at
info.nsls.org/our-program and originates with that
institution. Credit recommendations are not credit.
Printed from colleges.nsls.org: https://colleges.nsls.org/evaluate/questions-to-ask-us/
Questions about hosting a chapter? Contact our partnerships team at partnerships@nsls.org.
