Development and Validation of the College Experience Scale

College experience plays a central role in students’ overall development, including academic, psychological, and personal domains; however, it is also associated with significant stress and challenges that can negatively affect mental health. Existing measures primarily focus on activity-based and institutional aspects, lacking a concise and comprehensive framework to assess the overall perspective of college experience. The present study aims to develop and validate a psychometric scale to assess college experience among college students. Data were collected through an online Google Forms survey from 72 college students using open-ended questions on positive and negative college experiences. 24 items were generated in these domains based on the responses. The preliminary scale was administered to a sample of 623 students from Bharathiar University. Nine items across three domains, viz., academic, personal, and physical, were derived through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), with factor loadings ranging from .46 to .71. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) indicated a good model fit for the three-factor structure (CFI = .98, TLI = .97, NFI = .95, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .04). The scale demonstrated acceptable reliability (á = .70 to .73) and validity, including convergent and divergent validity, as well as Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Composite Reliability (CR), and item correlations. Measurement invariance across gender provided additional evidence of the scale’s robustness. The scale helps researchers and educational institutions gain insight into students’ overall experiences, which helps develop targeted interventions, policies, and strategies to enhance academic resilience, beliefs about academic functioning, and overall well-being