College Decision a Matter of Academic Reputation, Economics

A recent survey by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA revealed that the top consideration in college decision making is a school’s academic reputation.

Coming in second was the career success of its graduates, followed by financial assistance offerings. The survey polled 192,912 freshmen at 238 four-year schools about how they chose a college, their expectations of higher education and their politics and academic behaviors. Students were asked to indicate which of 23 possible reasons for attending a school were “very important” in their choice.

The survey showed that economic stress and concerns about future employment played key roles in how high school students make their college decisions. Three out of the top five reasons were a desire to get a good job, school cost and availability of financial aid.

Study participants ranked prospects for future employment high among their reasons for attending a particular school, as was the school’s reputation for placing its graduates in highly ranked graduate programs. Researchers also noted that 13.4 percent of the students indicated affordability was a very important factor in their decision not to attend their first-choice schools and that 17 percent of the respondents planned to live off-campus with family members, a 2.2 percent increase since 2011.

Students also favored a more personal approach when making a college decision; almost 42 percent of the survey respondents noted that an on-campus visit was a very important factor in choosing their school, while only 18.7 percent indicated that a school’s website had a significant impact on their choice.

Likewise, advice from counselors, whether private (3.8 percent) or employed by the students’ high schools (10.3 percent), didn’t have much impact on most student’s decisions. Forty percent of the students also stated that a school’s reputation for offering social activities was important to them, though few respondents, just over 7 percent, indicated that a school’s religious affiliation was a very important consideration.

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