Best questions for student survey about housing experience

Here are some of the best questions for a student survey about housing experience, plus smart tips on crafting them for richer feedback. With Specific, you can build a conversational survey in seconds, powered by advanced AI for real insights.

What are the best open-ended questions for student survey about housing experience?

Open-ended questions are perfect for digging into the full story behind a student's housing experience. They let respondents speak in their own words, surface issues you never considered, and offer context that closed questions can’t reach. You’ll use these when you want rich qualitative data and to uncover themes you didn’t predict—especially after hearing that 68% of students say rental costs impact their health in student housing surveys. [1]

1. How would you describe your overall experience living in your current student accommodation?

2. What factors most influenced your decision to live where you do now?

3. Tell us about any challenges you’ve faced with your housing situation.

4. Can you share a positive story or highlight from your time in this accommodation?

5. What do you wish your landlord or housing provider did differently?

6. How does your student housing affect your studies and daily life?

7. Describe any maintenance or support issues you’ve had. How were they handled?

8. What’s one thing you’d change to improve your housing experience?

9. How do you manage your housing costs as a student?

10. If you could tell future students one thing about your accommodation, what would it be?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for student survey about housing experience

Single-select multiple-choice questions shine when you want to quantify key trends or spark a conversation. They’re handy if you want data you can quickly visualize, or need an easy entry point for students before diving deeper with open-ended or follow-up questions. Sometimes, it’s easier for students to pick a clear answer—then you use a follow-up to get specifics (and make it conversational).

Question: How satisfied are you with your current student accommodation?

• Very satisfied

• Somewhat satisfied

• Neutral

• Somewhat dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: What is your main reason for choosing this accommodation?

• Proximity to campus

• Affordability

• Facilities and amenities

• Recommendation from others

• Other

Question: Have you experienced any significant housing issues during your studies?

• Yes, frequently

• Yes, occasionally

• No

When to follow up with "why?" If a student selects "Somewhat dissatisfied" or "Yes, frequently" to an issue, always ask "Why?" or "Can you tell me more?" This uncovers deeper causes—like the 41% of students who say housing problems have affected their studies—which gives you actionable insights. [1]

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Some students might have reasons or experiences you didn't anticipate. Including "Other" with a follow-up question lets you catch these surprises, revealing valuable nuances for improvement.

NPS survey question for student housing experience

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a single question that asks students how likely they are to recommend their accommodation to others, on a scale from 0 to 10. Adding an NPS question helps you benchmark overall satisfaction and spot changes over time. For student housing, it’s a powerful pulse check—especially because AI-driven tools let you instantly segment promoters, passives, and detractors, and dive deeper with tailored follow-ups. Try creating an instant NPS survey for students about housing experience and see results in minutes.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-ups are where survey magic happens. Instead of flat, one-dimensional answers, smart AI-driven follow-up questions pull out the full context. We’ve built Specific to do this brilliantly—AI asks clarifying and probing questions in real time, just like a thoughtful human interviewer. Plus, it saves you tons of back-and-forth over email. If a student shares partial info, the system naturally keeps the conversation going, building clarity with every turn. Learn more in our deep dive on automated follow-up questions.

• Student: "The maintenance is slow."

• AI follow-up: "Can you tell me about a recent maintenance issue and how it was handled?"

How many follow-ups to ask? As a rule of thumb, 2–3 targeted follow-ups are enough to clarify, dig for causes, or validate responses. Specific gives you full control—if you get the detail you need, the survey gently moves on. You decide where to set the bar for depth and efficiency.

This makes it a conversational survey. Unlike a static form, conversational AI turns surveys into two-way conversations. This keeps students engaged and delivers richer, more trustworthy feedback.

AI survey analysis is a breeze now. Even when every respondent gives long open-ended replies, you can instantly unlock summary insights with AI—check out how to analyze responses from student housing experience surveys using GPT-based tools.

These real-time, automated follow-ups are a game changer in survey design—try generating a survey with Specific to see how smoothly conversation flows and issues surface.

How to compose a prompt for ChatGPT (or GPTs) to get great questions

You can use ChatGPT or any Large Language Model to brainstorm questions for student housing surveys. Start broad, then add context:

If you want to simply draft ideas, go with a straightforward prompt:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for student survey about housing experience.

But for more focused, nuanced results, always guide AI by giving extra context—like who you are, your organization, your survey goals, and the housing issues you care about:

I work at a student services office at a UK university. We're designing a feedback survey to improve student housing. Our biggest challenges are affordability, maintenance, and community. Suggest 10 open-ended questions that get honest, actionable feedback on these themes.

Once you have an initial set of questions, you can organize and expand on them with:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Then, go further by diving into topics you want to prioritize:

Generate 10 questions for categories affordability and maintenance issues.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys are fundamentally different from traditional survey forms. Instead of bombarding students with a static list of questions, a conversational survey—like those built with Specific—chats intelligently, responding and adapting based on what the participant says. It feels natural, like texting with a real person, and that shows up in the data: AI surveys achieve completion rates of 70–80%, with dramatically lower abandonment than traditional forms (just 15–25% vs. over 40%). [1][2]

Here’s a side-by-side look:

Why use AI for student surveys? AI survey tools like Specific are simply better—higher response and completion rates, deeper insights, instant analysis, and the flexibility to follow up smartly, not rigidly. For student housing, where wellbeing and academic performance directly tie to living conditions, comprehensive insights are crucial. 41% of students experiencing housing issues say their studies suffer as a result—so missing these signals with flat surveys comes at a real cost. [1] Explore our guide on how to create a student survey about housing experience for practical steps using Specific or AI survey tools in general.

When you use Specific, you’re not just creating a survey—you’re opening a real dialogue with your student community, unlocking feedback that actually drives better housing decisions. We’ve built the platform to give both creators and students a smooth, engaging, best-in-class conversational experience.

See this housing experience survey example now

Try a tailored, AI-driven student housing survey to spark real conversations and get decision-ready insights—you’ll see just how effective and easy the process can be.