1. Academic quality and several cost-related factors top the list of factors very important to both students and their parents in college choice. CIRP data also provide evidence of the increasing importance of social activities in students' college choice.
To understand the factors most important in college application and enrollment decisions, studentPOLL asked respondents to rate how important 23 different factors were to them in their college decisions. We then asked students to tell us how important these same factors were to their parents.
Academic quality came in at the top of the list with 84 percent reporting that it was "very important" to them in deciding where to attend college. High proportions of students also rated affordability factors as very important (71 percent rated financial aid and 61 percent cost of attendance as very important), suggesting that cost concerns are very much on the mind of students.
Academic quality was also believed by students to be very important to their parents (85 percent) with campus safety an equally high factor (86 percent). Not surprisingly, financial aid and cost of attendance were believed by students to be even more important to their parents (77 percent and 75 percent respectively). (Chart 1)
Similar patterns are reflected in the CIRP longitudinal data. The academic reputation of the institution continues to be—as it has been for decades—the factor considered most important by the largest percentages of students in college choice. This is true for Millennials as well as their parents' Boomer generation. In 1977 (a year when many Boomer-generation students were entering college) 55 percent of students indicated that the college's good academic reputation was a "very important" reason they chose a particular college. Interestingly enough, CIRP's 2007 American Freshman—National Norms reported that this figure had risen to 63 percent—"the highest it has been in 35 years." (Chart 2)
More:
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data...
Posted By: How May I Help You NC
Wednesday, June 20th 2012 at 11:41AM
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