Abstract
We investigated the perception of meaning/purpose in life in relation to transition and access to Kenyan universities in a sample of 1173 first year students, in the three modes of access namely: Joint Admission Board students (JAB), Self-Sponsored Programs students (SSP) and the Private University students (PU). The Purpose-in-Life Test (PIL) and The Seeking of Noetic Goals Test (SONG) were used to measure Viktor Frankl’s concept of Will to Meaning and existential vacuum in which four interpretable dimensions of satisfaction with life were extracted with 2 factors loading on the PIL and two on the SONG with the Kenyan sample. The JABs attained a higher score than SSPs and PUs and inversely a lower score in SONG than the other two. This result supports assertion that SONG is a complementary scale to PIL contributing two factors that deal with purpose in life and two motivations for meaning in life. The two instruments proved their cross-cultural reliability and validity with the Kenyan sample.