College Choice Research Articles

How you choose is as important as what you choose: Subjective quality of choice predicts well-being and academic performance

The paper proposes a new approach to measuring key parameters of choice as intentional activity. We developed and validated a 23-item questionnaire called the Subjective Quality of Choice (SQC) which measures four qualitative dimensions of choice: elaboration, emotional valence, autonomy, and satisfaction with the outcome. Three validation studies are presented. In the first study respondents from a large online sample evaluated the quality of important choices they made in life. Using structural equation modeling, we confirmed the structure of the SQC and investigated the associations of its scales with other measures. In the second study using a longitudinal design we replicated the structure of the SQC in a university choice context and investigated the criterion validity of its scales against well-being and academic outcome variables. In the third study we investigated the predictive validity of the SQC in a university applicant sample against an objective real-life outcome. The findings support the validity of the choice quality model.

Charging for Higher Education: Estimating the Impact on Inequality and Student Outcomes

Abstract Over the last two decades, undergraduate university education in England moved from being state-funded and free for students, to costing all students substantial amounts in tuition fees. In this paper, using detailed administrative longitudinal microdata that follow all students attending state schools in England (approximately 95% of student population), we causally show that, despite the substantial reforms, enrollment fell only by 0.5 percentage points, where the effect is largely borne by those in wealthier groups, reducing the enrolment gap across socio-economic groups. Since tuition fees were introduced in conjunction with the government offering generous means-tested maintenance (cash) grants, as well as loans, our results highlight the importance of reducing financing constraints. Beyond enrollment, we find that the reforms have limited impact on students’ higher education choices, such as relocation decisions, university choice, and field of study. Finally, by tracking the students after graduation, we show similarly small effects on labor market outcomes.

Trans-contextualized cross-border student choice under “one country, two systems” from Hong Kong to Mainland China for higher education

PurposeThis article examines the complexity and dynamics of Hong Kong students' choice to pursue undergraduate education in Mainland China under the context of “one country, two systems.”Design/methodology/approachThis study mainly draws on primary data from in-depth interviews of 51 Hong Kong students studying in Mainland universities. Qualitative approach of inquiry is adopted to probe into the underlying reasons and processes undergone during the educational choice.FindingsAcademic factors push Hong Kong students away from local universities due to the failure of getting admissions in preferred programs or universities, and pull them toward Mainland universities due to attractions of specific universities and programs. During three phases of decision-making process, different influencing factors have conditioned three orientations: pragmatists enrolled in their aspired programs as the first choice, achievers utilized a fast-track path to enter elite universities and underachievers treated such study opportunity as a last resort for a degree.Originality/valueThis article contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of educational choice to higher education in Hong Kong at a strategic point of time. It explains how the macro political/policy and sociocultural contexts, the institutional influences of hosting universities and sending secondary schools, perceived parental influence and students' personal characteristics have shaped students' college choice.

Thinking Through Transfer: Examining How Community College Students Make Transfer Decisions.

For many students, community college is a convenient first step toward a bachelor's degree. Yet, although more than 80% of those who enroll in community colleges intend to transfer to a 4-year institution, fewer than 35% do so within 6 years. Quantitative data reveal the presence of a transfer gap and there is extensive research on college choice for high school students, but little qualitative research has been done to examine the transfer process for community college students to identify what drives their decisions. In this article, we draw on interviews with 58 community college students in Texas to examine how they made transfer decisions. We find that their decision-making and transfer pathways were complex and nonlinear in ways that were particular to the uncertainty of the community college context. For a subset of students, we identify minor hurdles that could derail their decision-making, lengthen their timelines to transfer, or lead to a failure to transfer. By illuminating student pathways to transfer using qualitative research, our work identifies potential areas where policy and practice could strengthen transfer to improve student outcomes.

Novel MCGDM with q-rung orthopair fuzzy soft sets and TOPSIS approach under q-Rung orthopair fuzzy soft topology

In this article, we study some concepts related to q-rung orthopair fuzzy soft sets (q-ROFS sets), together with their algebraic structure. We present operations on q-ROFSSs and their specific properties and elaborate them with real-life examples and tabular representations to develop influx of linguistic variables based on q-rung orthopair fuzzy soft (q-ROFS) information. We present an application of q-ROFS sets to multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) process related to the university choice, accompanied by algorithm and flowchart. We develop q-ROFS TOPSIS method and q-ROFS VIKOR method as extensions of TOPSIS (a technique for ordering preference through the ideal solution) and VIKOR (Vlse Kriterijumska Optimizacija Kompromisno Resenje), respectively. Finally, we tackle a problem of construction business utilizing q-ROFS TOPSIS and q-ROFS VIKOR methods.

Helping College Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder SUCCEED: A Comprehensive Care Model

ABSTRACT College students with ADHD are at risk for a host of negative outcomes in academic, social, and emotional domains. However, the majority of college campuses do not provide comprehensive and individualized services to target the executive functioning difficulties and psychological comorbidity seen in college students with ADHD. The current manuscript describes the development of a specialized semester-long program to address the unique needs of college students with ADHD (Students Understanding College Choices: Encouraging and Executing Decisions for Success; SUCCEEDS) as well as the clinical, research, and training mission of this venture. Results from reliable change indices indicate that among the eight students in this case series, the majority reported significant improvements in organizational skills. Additionally, the majority of students with elevated rates of depression or alcohol use at baseline also reported significant improvement in these comorbid symptoms. A descriptive case study is also provided to further demonstrate the individualization and implementation of SUCCEEDS. Preliminary evidence suggests that SUCCEEDS is an effective method for addressing the personalized and wide-ranging difficulties experienced by college students with ADHD. Lessons learned and future directions for research are discussed.

Does the timing of work integrated learning affect graduate employability outcomes?

Employability is a critical quality measure of student lifelong success that goes beyond grade achievement and often guides students’ choice of university and profession. Whilst studies highlighting the importance of work-integrated learning (WIL) in improving employability abound, there is a dearth of knowledge on the efficacy of timing of WIL as a variable in improving employability. The longitudinal study, carried out in a 3-year annual questionnaire-based survey, examines the effect of timing of WIL on employability status when student performance is held constant. Graduates possessing the same performance level (academic degree class 2.1) showed different levels of economic-engagement achievements depending on whether they engaged in WIL prior to their studies (Group A), throughout the learning period (Group B) or for nine months during the third year (Group C) of their studies. Although the findings revealed differences between timing of WIL and the nature of work engagement, all the graduates endorsed the critical role of WIL in building work-related competencies and thus improving employability. The findings are useful in promoting the necessary diversity in WIL curriculum design to facilitate quality and inclusive higher education.

“Hopefully I Can Transfer:” Cooling Out Postsecondary Aspirations of Latina/o/x Students

ABSTRACT Guided by the frameworks of college-conocimiento and the cooling out function, this study examined the college choice process of Latina/o/x students who attended an under-resourced urban high school. Data for this study consisted of interviews with ten institutional agents, two oral history interviews with 34 Latina/o/x students, and observation field notes. Findings revealed that upon seeking college information, students were informed that the community college was more accessible than four-year college. The consistent message from advisors and teachers influenced the participants to enroll in community college, with aspirations to transfer to a four-year college. Upon applying to college, recruitment counselors from for-profit and community colleges offered vocational pathways as an alternative option to transferring. Implications for equity-minded research are discussed. Recommendations for socially just policies and asset-based practices are provided to bridge the high school-to-ollege transition for Latina/o/x students.

Analysis of price and non-price factors influencing consumer behaviour on educational services market

Subject. The subject of the study is the influence of price and nonprice factors on consumers’ behavior at the educational services market.The aim of the study is to investigate the price, non-price reduced to price, non-price not reduced to price factors of the applicants’ choice of University examined during the experiment conducted in the State University “Dubna”. The objectives of the present study are the following: to analyze the experimental data, to establish the impact of three sets of factors on the applicants’ choice of University.Methods. Such methods as questioning method, index method, financial and factor analysis methods were used during the study.Results and discussion. Factors that have a significant influence on the choice of the applicants were identified: a state-recognized degree – 77,6%, teachers’ qualifications – 57,1%, financial capacity of parents – 45,2%, high remuneration after graduation – 47,6%, and all factors related to the high income in the future: acquisition of professional skills – 63,9%, advancement opportunity – 52,4%, facilities and resources of university – 40,8%. It was found that the following factors have a low level of impact: the amount of a tuition fee – 25,9%, dormitory availability – 26,5%, availability of performance contracts32,7%, the presence of several forms of education – 27,9%, fl exible system of payment, discounts – 27,9%, the presence of competitions – 26%, family continuity – 41,8%. Compounding and calculating of the net present value (NPV) were conducted to estimate price and non-price to price reduced factors. 77% has NPV value greater than zero, 23% has it less than or equal to zero.Conclusions. Two thirds of respondents consider making of choice as a rational act, other respondents’ choice was affected by price reduced to cost factors. A factor analysis was held in order to estimate the price reduced to cost factors and revealed two factors that influence the choice: expanding of social circle, social, creative and sports life in the university.Key words: price, non-price to price reduced, price reduced to cost factors, demand, applicant, net present value, factor analysis.

College Choice, Interrupted: Understanding the Choice Processes of Hurricane-Affected Puerto Rican Students in Florida

ABSTRACT After Hurricane María, approximately 3,500 students enrolled in on Florida’s school district from Puerto Rico. Displaced Puerto Rican high schoolers incurred the transitional costs of forced migration at a time in their educational trajectories when they are formulating their postsecondary plans. While student mobility is not uncommon, prevailing college choice models do not account for changes in context. This embedded case study leverages 87 interviews across district stakeholders, including 10 high schoolers to examine whether and how changes in educational contexts (state policy, postsecondary landscape, and schools) influenced changes in postsecondary expectations through the lens of expectancy-value theory. First, Florida’s policy context (as an English-only state with English-only testing) created a challenging environment for students to acquire diplomas, which reduced students’ expectations for success. Second, the enrollment patterns and institutional costs were vastly different between Puerto Rico and Florida; Florida counselors were unprepared to help students consider postsecondary options in Puerto Rico and emphasized utility and low cost of community college. Third, class mattered, as students from higher socio-economic backgrounds were less likely to change their educational expectations, relative to the downward shifts in expectations of low-SES students. We close with implications for college guidance, policy, and research.

College Choice: Considerations for Academically Advanced High School Seniors

When choosing a college, high school students and those who guide them through the process must consider the complex interactions between student-level and institution-level variables in order to achieve an optimal person–environment fit. Ten academically advanced high school students who had chosen and committed to attending a college participated in semistructured interviews in which they rank-ordered and discussed the college choice considerations they used in the decision-making process. This qualitative study describes six themes that were identified across participants. The college-going identity of these academically advanced students was influenced by pressure to attend a highly selective school, social comparisons, and early career exploration opportunities. Additionally, when evaluating institution characteristics, these academically talented high school seniors questioned the relationship between quality, cost, and prestige, appreciated flexible learning options, and sought opportunities for immersion in a domain.

Predicting the Variables That Determine University (Re-)Entrance as a Career Development Using Support Vector Machines with Recursive Feature Elimination: The Case of South Korea

The current study seeks to identify variables that affect the career decision-making of high school graduates with respect to the choice of university (re-)entrance in South Korea where education has great importance as a tool for self-cultivation and social prestige. For pattern recognition, we adopted a support vector machine with recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) with a big-data of survey of Korean college candidates. Based on the SVM-RFE analysis results, new enrollers were mostly affected by the mesosystems of interactions with parents, while re-enrollers were affected by the macrosystems of social awareness as well as individual estimates of talent and aptitude of individual systems. By predicting the variables that affect the high school graduates’ preparation for university re-entrance, some survey questions provide information on why they make the university choice based on interactions with their parents or acquaintances. Along with these empirical results, implications for future research are also presented.

Remembering and Revisiting Pedagogies of the Home

Almost two decades after Delgado Bernal’s theorization of pedagogies of the home, this article examines pedagogies of the home of four Chicana/o college-educated families to understand the role of parent engagement not only in the college choice processes but also in college completion and graduate school enrollment. Using Chicana feminisms to inform educational oral histories, four Chicana/o parent-child dyads were interviewed. The findings suggest that among Chicana/o college-educated families the (re)making of home, (re)covering tensions, and (re)claiming and (re)learning of cultural knowledge were the pedagogies of the home that were embraced by two successive generations of college completers. Complexities, contradictions, and nuances among Chicana/o college-educated families add to the theorization of pedagogies of the home.

University choice and the attractiveness of the study area: Insights on the differences amongst degree programmes in Italy based on generalised mixed-effect models

We investigate the determinants of students' university choices (where to study and which field) by linking micro-data provided by the Italian National Student Archive (ANS) on a cohort of students enrolled for the first time at the university in a.y. 2017/18 with socioeconomic indicators related to the territorial areas and other information concerning universities, fields of study and degree programmes provided by national surveys on graduated students. The aim of the analysis is to propose a set of indicators of attractiveness of tertiary education institutions that are suitable for making comparisons among fields of study and degree programmes between and within universities. To this end, students' choices to attend bachelor's degree studies outside their region of residence have been modelled within the generalised mixed-effect models framework. We show how the setting of alternative model parametrisations and the adjustment for different sources of heterogeneity in the data enable us to build up measures that are suitable to investigate the characteristics of institutions attractiveness. The results of the analysis enable us to assess and distinguish the roles played by the university, the field of study and other factors that are endogenous to tertiary education institutions in determining the power to attract students from other regions.

Student Loans and Social Mobility

Students of poor families invest much less than rich families in college education. To assess the role of financing constraints and subsidy schemes in explaining this gap, I structurally estimate an IO/finance model of college choice in the presence of financing frictions. The estimation uses novel nationally representative data on US high-school and college students. I propose a novel identification strategy that relies on bunching at federal Stafford loan limits and differences between in- and out-of-state tuition. I find that the college investment gap is mainly due to fundamental factors—heterogeneity in preparedness for college and the value-added of college—rather than financing constraints faced by lower-income students. Making public colleges tuition-free would substantially reduce student debt, but it would disproportionately benefit wealthier students, and it would entail more than $15B deadweight loss per year by distorting college choices. Expanding Pell grants, in contrast, would benefit lower-income students at a much lower cost.

Asian Americans, Admissions, and College Choice: An Empirical Test of Claims of Harm Used in Federal Investigations

The Coalition of Asian American Associations (CAAA) and Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE), two small but vocal groups of Asian Americans, have argued against affirmative action practices. One of their more prominent claims is that Asian American applicants who are not accepted and do not attend their first-choice colleges face a multitude of negative consequences, a claim that has become the impetus for the current U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into the college admissions process at a number of universities. This study empirically tests the claims made by CAAA and AACE with particular attention to the differences in Asian American student outcomes, relative to their college admissions and choice decisions. Our findings indicate a limited, if any, statistical difference between Asian American groups that attend differing choice institutions.

Parental involvement and the educational trajectories of youth in Russia

This paper studies the influence of parental involvement in the educational process on the educational achievements of Russian students and their educational strategies, such as studying in high school and successful admission to university. We argue that the patterns of parental involvement represent a link between the formal (school) and informal (family) educational institutions and can have a beneficial effect on academic performance and contribute to the choice of the educational pathway to higher education. Based on data from the longitudinal study ‘Trajectories in Education and Careers’, it was shown that the results of school state examinations are positively associated with the active participation of parents in school meetings, the employment of tutors (except for the Unified State Exam score in mathematics), and the provision of additional literature for the child. A negative relationship was found between homework control and student success. In general, the factor of ‘rational’ (not excessive) involvement is positively associated with educational achievement and educational choice, which may indicate the non-linear nature of the relationship. Parental involvement itself depends on the family characteristics, such as mother’s education, family income and the number of books at home. In addition, family has a positive impact on educational success and educational strategies, and high school characteristics are especially important for the results of the Unified State Exam and the university choice.

Russian Students' Use of Social Network Sites for Selecting University Abroad

This qualitative case study explores how undergraduate students from the Russian State University for Humanities used social network sites (SNSs) for their decision to transfer to higher education institutions (HEIs) abroad. Participants reported using specific SNS features, such as likes and shares, for measuring HEI rating and indicated that ability to use native language was among motivating factors for membership in a specific SNS. The reported benefits of SNSs included instantaneous connections with likeminded individuals, realistic visualization of campuses, and unbiased and multidimensional views presented by SNS members. One of the emerging findings was that participants with no connections abroad relied exclusively on SNSs for their college choice. Participants with connections abroad relied on the advice of international contacts, and SNSs played a complementary role. HEI professionals may consider hiring and training international students to maintain consistent and meaningful content on different SNS platforms, particularly in their countries’ specific SNSs.

Alignment of educational aspirations and career plans in high school with Mobile app technology

Init2Winit is a gamified mobile application designed to promote college and career knowledge among adolescents. Init2Winit offers students multiple opportunities to explore college and career pathways using game tunnels; this tunnel play informs students’ understanding of how mis/aligned choices can have varying consequences for their future. Our study examines player performance in the career tunnel--where students attempt to align their educational expectations with chosen career pathways. Students earn points when their educational expectations are correctly aligned with their desired careers and expected salaries. Init2Winit was tested in Midwest urban and rural high schools using a sample of 186 high students. Results show that students who earned high alignment scores increased their college-going expectations. Subsequent game plays increased students’ alignment between college choices, career plans, and realistic salary projections.

The Sustainability of International Accreditations and Their Impact on Students’ Choices in Selecting the Universities

The purpose of the current article is to determine the sustainability of international accreditations for business schools. As international accreditations are viewed as a costly process, universities must think if this endeavor could have a positive impact in the long run. From an impact point of view, we look at the intake of students, focusing on the factors that impact the decision of students in their choice of university. We have noticed that these international accreditations are pursued by business schools to increase their outreach and to receive a certification of quality that is recognized overseas. We consider the hypothesis that international accreditation is a key factor in the decision-making process of candidates, and we tested it by applying a questionnaire to 400 business and economics students that are studying in two business schools. From the 400 students that answered the questionnaire, only 199 responses were considered fully answered and proper for our study. Our results show that there is a difference between French and Romanian students in the choice of universities. While both groups agree that internationalization is important, their decisions are based on different elements. Our research is among the few that look both at the student choice and at the impact of the international accreditation on the student numbers.