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Understanding Student College Choice
Eunkyoung Park
Don Hossler
CONTENTS
1 Timing of College Choice
2 General College Choice Factors
3 Traditional Students by Race/Ethnicity
4 Non-Traditional Students
TIMING OF COLLEGE CHOICE (1/3)
College Choice Model (Hossler & Gallagher, 1987)
Predisposition Search Choice
TIMING OF COLLEGE CHOICE (2/3)
9th graders: Make a first college choice, but not followed by observable actions
10th graders: Have a short list of colleges and characteristics they are considering
11th graders: Take college entrance exams; seek for detailed college info. outside of family and friends; think about majors and detailed characteristics of colleges they are considering
12th graders: Complete financial aid applications; actively seek for college info. via campus visits, college guidance and counseling
TIMING OF COLLEGE CHOICE (3/3)
Students must successfully complete relevant tasks at each stage
The later students developed aspirations and/or applied to college, the less likely they were to enter a college (Hossler et al., 1999).
Trigger events: college entrance exams, a financial aid application (Hossler et al., 1999)
The gap in college aspirations across income and racial groups gets larger as the student progress to college enrollment (Klasik, 2012).
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
For Higher Education Institutions
o Parents play a critical role in shaping aspirations and signaling to students the price they are willing to pay
o To get considered sophomore year and early junior year is a critical time period
o Peers become increasingly important – looking for pools of students, not individual students
For Public Policy Makers
o Communicate as early as possible about likely amount of financial aid
o Find ways to educate parents
COLLEGE CHOICE FACTORS
Personal Characteristics (e.g., gender, race)
Family Income
Social and Cultural Capital
Academic Ability
High School Attended
Information Sources
Peer Effects
Costs of Attendance and Financial Aid
WHITE STUDENTS
White students are considered a successful group in terms of college access with their highest representation in the US Higher education, which may obscure the barriers and difficulties that first-generation/low-income White students face.
College choice factors: Gender, Academic Achievement, Financial Concerns
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS
African American students’ college enrollment and completion have increased significantly over the past decade. However, they continue to be underrepresented in the US higher education (NCES, 2012).
Large gap between academic aspiration and educational attainment due to insufficient academic preparation, college information and guidance (Chen & Volpe, 1998; Perna, 2000; Perna & Titus, 2005; Pitre, 2007)
College choice factors: Parental expectation, costs of attendance, information about college costs and financial aids, gender
LATINO/A STUDENTS (1/2)
Latino/as are more likely to
o be first-generation
o to have lower college aspirations and HS academic achievement
o to apply fewer colleges
o to attend two-year institutions or less selective institutions than four-year institutions or more selective institutions
Latino parents are more likely to
o place great value on education
o have difficulties in reading and speaking English
o have little or no college experience in the US and lack college knowledge
o have a lower level of parental involvement
LATINO/A STUDENTS (2/2)
Chain Migration Theory
o Family members, peers, acquaintances are important in Latino/as college choice (Person & Rosenbaum, 2006)
College Choice Factors: Accessibility, location, affordability
Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)
o Open admission policies, public, located in communities with large Latino populations, lower costs (Cunningham et al., 2014; Santiago, 2006, 2007)
ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENTS (1/2)
True or Myth?
o Asian Americans are “the highest‐income, best‐educated and fastest‐growing racial group in the United States” (The Pew Research Center,
2013, p.1).
o Asian Americans show higher academic aspiration and academic achievement, as well as high college attendance rates in terms of both four‐year college enrollment and selective college enrollment (Caplan et al.,
1991; Hsia, 1988; Hurtado et al., 1997; Park, 2013).
ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENTS (2/2)
Take attending college for granted and have sense of responsibility in doing well academically and meeting their parents’ expectations
High parental expectation and involvement
Parents serve as information providers with prior college experience (Chua, 2011; Kim & Gasman, 2011)
Have high debt aversion
College Choice Factor: Academic ability, selectivity, academic and professional opportunities that colleges provide, debt aversion (Cunningham & Santiago, 2008; Kim & Gasman, 2011)
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Differentiate your communications based on knowledge of students
Latino and African American students are more likely to need ways to educate parents
For some students and their families net price needs to be addressed early and often
Debt aversion is a significant issue for Latino, African American, & Asian students
NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS (1/3)
The increase of nontraditional students
o Transfer students, part‐time students, and adult students (Brock, 2010; Seftor
& Turner, 2002; Snyder, Dillow, & Hoffman, 2007)
Research on first-time, full-time college students excludes one-third of the entire college student population (Hagelskamp et al., 2013)
NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS (2/3)
Motivations: o To have a better job
o to make an economic improvement
o to advance professionally
o to escape from a current situation
o to make a career change
o to achieve job advancement with a current employer
o to make social friendships
o intrinsic motivations (e.g., pure interest in knowledge, satisfaction of obtaining a degree)
NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS (3/3)
Nontraditional students tend to
o Have multiple responsibilities such as managing home, family, work, and study (Choy, 2002)
o Have higher financial concerns (Bishop & Van Dyk, 1088; Seftor & Turner, 2002)
College Choice Factor: Affordability, flexibility, proximity, convenience, quality, service (e.g., time constraints, childcare, instructional and advising scheduling, and transportation) (Broekemier, 2002; Levine & Cureton, 1998; Stone & O’Shea, 2013; Swenson, 1998)
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
1/3rd of all college students – pay attention
Need to be more creative to reach non-traditional students
Appeal to instrumental goals
Opportunity costs often perceived as the most important costs for non-traditional students
Convenience, Convenience, Convenience
Need to communicate with parents/loved ones on a regular basis post-matriculation
COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS
Eunkyoung Park
Don Hossler
See the following chapter for details and citations: Park, E., & Hossler, D. (2014). Understanding student college choice. In D. Hossler & B. Bontrager (Eds), The handbook of strategic enrollment management (pp. 49-76). Jossey-Bass.
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