In higher education, extracurricular activities provide students with important opportunities to broaden their horizons and create value. As one of the indicators reflecting student experience in participation extracurricular activities, student satisfaction is a critical aspect. The main aims of this study are to examine the effect of student expectations and academic outcomes on student satisfaction with extracurricular activity. This paper also focuses on the satisfaction evaluation of college students from different majors, genders, and academic levels with extracurricular activities, compares the differences in satisfaction levels, and explores the reasons for the differences. We use principal component analysis to divide extracurricular activities into three types: practical interest, academic and cultural, and career development. Empirical results from 518 college students suggest that there are significant differences in the content and form of extracurricular activities among college students of different majors and grades. Especially, there is a notable negative correlation emerged between students’ expectations of extracurricular activities and their satisfaction ratings. Our analysis revealed no significant difference between the evaluation students' satisfaction with extracurricular activities and academic outcomes. The research findings provide new insights for university administrators and teachers to understand students' differentiated needs and how to stimulate their satisfaction with extracurricular activities.

Ying Xiao, Fang Liang. Investigating the relationship among college student satisfaction with extracurricular activity, expectations and academic outcomes: An case study. Frontiers in Educational Research (2024) Vol. 7, Issue 11: 246-255. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2024.071137.

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