Section: features
COUNSELOR IMPACT ON COLLEGE CHOICE
To what extent do high school students rely on counselors for information in making the choice of what college to attend? In this study, we attempted to answer this question and to learn what influences students' choice of a college. College choice has been described as a developmental process that begins with considering the possibility of going to college and ends with choosing and seeking admission to a particular college (Chapman, 1981; Chapman, 1984; Gilmour, Spiro, & Dolich, 1981; Litten, 1981).
This developmental process unfolds over a period of several years. First thoughts concerning college occurred during grade school for nearly two-thirds of the students and by junior high school for over 80% in a study by Gilmour et al. (1981). In 1981, Murphy found more that 70% of high school students in Milwaukee first considered going to college while they were in elementary school. Over half of the students decided to attend college during the early years of high school and nearly all had decided before the end of the senior year (Murphy, 1981). The study reported here focused on the final stage of this developmental process, the selection of the particular college to attend, and the factors that influenced this choice.
Research has identified several influences on college choice. The reputation of the institution or the particular academic program of interest to the student has typically been found to be the primary influence upon college choice (Douglas & Powers, 1985; Nelson & Poremba, 1980; Powers, Douglas, & Choroszy, 1982). Other primary influences identified include cost and social climate (Gilmour, et al., 1981); people, including parents, counselors, teachers, alumni, teachers, and friends (Chapman, 1981; Gilmour, et al., 1981); student characteristics such as socioeconomic status, aptitude, levels of educational aspiration, and high school performance (Chapman, 1981; Dewbowski, 1980); location and distance from home (Chapman, 1981; Nelson & Poremba, 1980); and general expectation of college life (Chapman, 1981).
What information sources do high school students most frequently use when they are selecting a college? In contrast to mass media reports that suggest students rely heavily upon friends and peers, two recent studies reported that approximately three-fourths of the students used their high school counselor as a source of information ("How do students," 1986; Hutchinson & Bottorff, 1986). The latter study, however, found that only 59% received the information they sought. More than 80% of college admissions officers believed that counselors are influential in helping a student choose a college (Dominick, Johnson, Chapman, BE Griffith, 1980).
The current study was conducted to determine (a) the points in the student's life when the choice of a college was first considered and a final choice made, (b) the factors considered and their relative importance in making a college choice, and (c) the information resources used by high school students in considering colleges they might attend.
METHOD
This descriptive study used a questionnaire to survey college freshmen entering a large midwestern university concerning their college choice decision-making process.
Participants
The sample consisted of 3,708 freshmen (2,081 women and 1,627 men) who responded to a request to fill out a questionnaire during freshman orientation in the summer of 1985. This response represented 55% of the freshman class. A comparison of the sample and the population data from this class from university records revealed no significant differences between the sample and the general population on sex, race, or academic major.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire was developed and tested with the 1984-1985 freshman class. It was then used for this study of the 19851986 freshman class during the summer of 1985. The 3-page questionnaire was printed on mark-sense sheets. Students were asked to fill it out during freshman orientation, and compliance was voluntary.
The questionnaire asked students to indicate when they had begun their college planning and when they had made their final choice of a college to attend. They were also asked whether or not they had considered each of 15 factors (e.g., cost, prestige, academic reputation). They were also requested to indicate the importance of each of these on a 5-point scale. Finally, they were given a list of college information sources (e.g., family, counselor, friends). Students were asked to indicate which of these they used in considering a college.
Analysis
A file was developed for these data using the university's mainframe computer. The summary information for this research came from both these data and student records maintained by the university admissions office enabling the data to be analyzed separately for women and men, Blacks and Whites, and each of four ACT score categories.
RESULTS
When is a college choice made? These college freshmen began exploring college choices well before their senior year in high school. These results are shown in Table 1. More than one third of the sample reported beginning their choice planning before their junior year, and by the end of the junior year more than 80% had begun the planning process. Only 5% waited until their senior year to start planning a college choice.
Only about 10% of the students had made their choice of a college before their senior year in high school, as shown in Table 2. Approximately 70% made their final choice during their senior year, and fewer than 20% waited until after high school graduation to finally decide.
What qualities did these students look for in a college? Students were asked to indicate which of 15 college characteristics they considered when they made their college decision. They were also asked to rate the importance of each factor considered on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 = slightly important to 5 = very important. Academic reputation and quality of the available programs were considered by over 90% of the students and were rated as being the most important characteristics.
Cost was a factor considered by 80% of the students and had a mean rating of 3.90, indicating it to be important in their college considerations. Only slightly over half (56.6%) reported the offer of financial aid to be considered. This item may have been important to those who believed they might meet requirements for aid and may not have been as important for others who thought that they could not qualify. This item had the largest variance in ratings. The preference of friends, the preference of family, and the athletic program were rated as least important of the factors considered, with none of these three rated as even moderately important.
The data from this part of the questionnaire were also analyzed by sex, race, and ACT scores. Men rated extracurricular activities, athletic programs, and friends' preference as more important than did women, as shown in Table 3. These differences were statistically significant. Because multiple t tests were used to test the significance of the differences, a conservative alpha level of .005 was used. Women students rated academic reputation, quality of available programs, friendliness of the school, size, campus beauty, and distance as more important than did men. No differences between men and women were found for costs, financial aid offered, prestige, familiarity with the school, and family preference. For both men and women, factors that pertained to the quality and reputation of the school and to costs and financial aid were regarded as most important.
Using the previously mentioned level of significance when analyzing the results by race, differences were found for academic reputation, costs, financial aid offered, and distance from home, as indicated in Table 3. These factors were more important for Blacks than for Whites. Other ethnic groups were small in number; differences between these groups and Whites, and differences among themselves were not statistically significant.
Results of the same data grouped by four ACT score ranges revealed no statistical differences attributed to test scores. Three factors (academic reputation, quality of available programs, and costs) were seen as most important by students regardless of ACT scores. Distance from home, family preference, athletic programs, and friends' preference were least important for all groups.
What information sources do students use when exploring college choices? Students in this study were asked to indicate which of nine sources they used in selecting a college. The percentage of the sample reporting use of each of the sources is shown for men and women in Table 4. For both male and female students, the most often identified resources were college students, friends, and high school counselors. Nearly 70% of the students surveyed said that they used these people as resources. The counselor was identified as a resource more often than parents or high school teachers. Mass media provided information to fewer than one in five of these students.
These same data were also analyzed by race, as shown in Table 4. Blacks were more apt than Whites to use the high school counselor and less likely to use their family for college information. For Blacks, the counselor was the most frequent source of information.
The use of various college information sources by students in various ACT score ranges is also shown in Table 4. The rankings of the information sources by frequency of use were approximately the same regardless of ACT score. These data do, however, indicate slightly greater use of friends and counselors by students with the lowest ACT scores and somewhat more frequent use of college publications and alumni by students with the highest test scores.
DISCUSSION
As has previously been found, most college freshmen in this sample began their college planning before their senior year in high school and made their college choice during their senior year. The academic reputation of the college, the quality of available programs, costs, faculty reputation, and the friendliness of the school were among the top factors considered by these students when they made their college choice. These findings are consistent with those of previous studies.
Far more differences were found in the ratings of factors used in considering a college when examined by sex than when examined by race. Male and female students differed on 10 of the 15 factors, and Black and White students differed on only 4 of the 15 factors. The differences in ratings based on sex, although statistically significant, were rather small and not of great practical importance. For example, men rated athletic programs slightly higher than did women, but both men and women rated athletics among the factors of least importance. The significant differences between Black and White students among factors examined were fewer but of more consequence. The largest mean difference between Blacks and Whites was on the factor of financial aid offered. The mean response for Blacks on this item was 4.38, and for Whites it was 3.46. Blacks were also more concerned with costs, academic reputation, and distance from home than were Whites.
Great similarity in ratings assigned was noted across all groups with regard to factors that influenced college choice as well as information sources used. All subgroups--men, women, Blacks, Whites, and all four ACT groups--rated academic reputation and quality of available programs as the 2 most important factors in determining college choice from among the 15 factors listed. All subgroups except Blacks rated cost as the third most important factor. Blacks saw financial aid as more important than costs.
Of the nine leading information sources cited by students, information gained from college students, friends, and the high school counselor were the three sources most frequently reported by all subgroups studied. School counselors were the information source most frequently used by Blacks, whereas college students were the source most frequently reported by Whites, regardless of sex or ACT score categories.
Several important implications for school counselors can be noted from the study results. First, counselors should be aware of the relatively brief time interval in the life of students from their first exploration of colleges to their final choice of an institution. Most of this activity is confined to parts of the junior and senior years of high school. Second, counselors are an important information source, especially for Blacks and low-ACT scorers. Special ways of extending service to these subgroups may be needed during this crucial period of decision making. Finally, because financial aid supports are especially important for many Black students, counselors should be aware of sources of aid targeted for these students as well as general aid programs and the qualifications for being granted this aid, and make this information readily available to them early in their college selection process.
Results of this study support earlier findings concerning the early college planning of high school students, the emphasis upon institutional quality factors in college choice, and the similarity of primary information sources across all groups studied.
TABLE 1 Distribution of Times When Students Began Making College Plans
Legend for Table:
A - N
B - Before Junior Year
C - Junior Year
D - Summer Before Senior Year
E - 1st Half Senior Year
F - 2nd Half Senior Year
G - After High School Graduation
A B C D E F G
Girls 2081 42% 40% 13% 5% 0% 0%
Boys 1627 34% 48% 13% 5% 0% 0%
Total 3708 38% 44% 13% 5% 0% 0%
TABLE 2 Distribution of Times When Students Made Final Choice of a College
Legend for Table:
A - N
B - Before Junior Year
C - Junior Year
D - Summer Before Senior Year
E - 1st Half Senior Year
F - 2nd Half Senior Year
G - After High School Graduation
A B C D E F G
Girls 2081 0% 3% 10% 31% 38% 18%
Boys 1627 0% 2% 8% 31% 43% 16%
Total 3708 0% 3% 9% 31% 41% 17%
TABLE 3 Mean Ratings of College Choice Factors by Sex and Race
Girls Boys
Factors (N = 2081) (N = 1627)
(*) (+) Academic Reputation 4.56 .72 4.42 .75
(*) Quality of Program 4.52 .72 4.38 .82
(+) Costs 3.95 1.14 3.80 1.15
(*) Faculty Reputation 3.80 1.14 3.64 1.17
(*) Friendliness of School 3.83 1.08 3.53 1.08
(+) Financial Aid Offered 3.56 1.50 3.52 1.44
Prestige 3.50 1.13 3.47 1.13
(*) Size 3.52 1.06 3.37 1.10
(*) Extracurricular Activity 3.20 1.16 3.40 1.16
(*) Campus Beauty 3.19 1.18 3.01 1.18
Familiarity With School 3.10 1.24 3.05 1.26
(*) (+) Distance From Home 3.11 1.21 2.93 1.18
Family Preference 2.64 1.34 2.54 1.33
(*) Athletic Program 2.38 1.25 2.80 1.32
(*) Friend's Preference 1.97 1.20 2.18 1.23
Black White
Factors (N = 245) (N = 3324)
(*) (+) Academic Reputation 4.72 .66 4.48 .74
(*) Quality of Program 4.58 .76 4.45 .79
(+) Costs 4.38 .98 3.86 1.15
(*) Faculty Reputation 3.96 1.21 3.71 1.15
(*) Friendliness of School 3.90 1.17 3.69 1.09
(+) Financial Aid Offered 4.46 1.02 3.49 1.49
Prestige 3.76 1.10 3.46 1.13
(*) Size 3.65 1.20 3.44 1.07
(*) Extracurricular Activity 3.33 1.20 3.28 1.16
(*) Campus Beauty 3.15 1.24 3.11 1.18
Familiarity With School 3.33 1.25 3.06 1.24
(*) (+) Distance From Home 3.51 1.31 3.00 1.19
Family Preference 2.89 1.43 2.57 1.32
(*) Athletic Program 2.60 1.31 2.56 1.30
(*) Friend's Preference 2.20 1.33 2.03 1.20
Note. (*) Differences between boys and girls significant (t-test,
p < .005). (+) Differences between Blacks and Whites significant
(t -test, p < .005).
TABLE 4 Percentage Using Each Information Source by Sex, Race, and ACT Score
Sex Race
Information Source Girls Boys White Black
College Students 80 72 78 68
Friends 73 69 72 70
High School Counselor 73 67 70 78
College Publication 64 58 61 67
Family 62 59 62 47
Alumni 56 51 55 46
High School Teacher 54 50 52 59
Newspaper 21 17 19 28
TV 11 12 11 17
Act Scores
Information Source 0-15 16-20 21-25 26-36
College Students 75 84 78 74
Friends 78 74 75 68
High School Counselor 76 72 72 68
College Publication 56 55 61 67
Family 60 62 60 62
Alumni 46 54 53 59
High School Teacher 56 53 53 52
Newspaper 29 19 20 17
TV 18 13 12 8
REFERENCES
Chapman, D. W. (1981). A model of student college choice. Journal of Higher Education, 52, 490-505.
Chapman, R. G. (1984). Toward a theory of college choice: A model of college search and choice behavior. Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta.
Dewbowski, F. L. (1980). Model for predicting college choice. College and University, 55, 103-112.
Dominick, C. A., Johnson, R. H., Chapman, D. W., & Griffith, J. V. (1980). College recruiting in the next ten years. Journal of National Association of College Admissions Counselors, 24(2), 2-7.
Douglas, P., & Powers, S. (1985). Factors in the choice of higher education instruction by students of higher ability. Journal of College Personnel, 26, 552-553.
Gilmour, J. E., Spiro, L. M., & Dolich, I. J. (1981). How high school students select a college. Unpublished manuscript, Pennsylvania State University, Philadelphia.
How do students choose a college? (1986,January/February). Change, 29-32.
Hutchinson, R. L., & Bottorff, R. J. (1986). Selected high school counseling services: Student assessment. The School Counselor, 33, 350-354.
Litten, L. (1981). Different strokes in the application pool: Some refinements in a model of student choice. Journal of Higher Education, 4, 383-402.
Murphy, P. E. (1981). Consumer buying roles in college choice: Parents' and students' perceptions. College and University, 57, 150-160.
Nelson, B., & Poremba, G. (1980). Reasons for selecting the University of North Dakota by new freshman and college transfer students, 1979-80. Grand Forks, ND: The University of North Dakota.
Powers, S., Douglas, P., & Choroszy, M. (1982,November). Factors in the choice of higher education institutions by academically able seniors. Paper presented at the 61st annual meeting of the California Educational Research Association, Sacramento, CA.
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By Richard G. Johnson, Norman R. Stewart and Charles G. Eberly
Richard G. Johnson and Norman R. Stewart are professors at Michigan State University, East Lansing Charles G. Eberly is an associate professor at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston.
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