Weekly Readings: Sept 14

College Choice,

Fifty Years of College Choice

Kinzie, J., Palmer, M., Hayek, J., Hossler, D., Jacob, S. A., Cummings, H. (2004, September). Fifty years of college choice: Social, political and institutional influences on the decision-making process (EDED484237). ERIC. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED484237.pdf

Key Points: From the abstract: "This report analyzes how student and family characteristics, institutional admissions policies and practices, and public policies have influenced the manner and timing of students' college-choice decisions. Specifically, the report examines the following three topics: (1) Shifts in public policy regarding postsecondary access, equity and financial aid; (2) Changes in recruitment, marketing, admissions practices and financial aid; and (3) Other institutional practices that have shaped the college-choice process."

Initial Thoughts: I read this entire report because I was intrigued by the history of college policies, financial aid, marketing, and the decisions related to college students' choice. Each historical area of focus focussed on public policy, institutional policies and practices, and students and their families, and what's related to choosing the best college for them. There's so much to share about this report, but I'm going to focus on one thing, the rhetoric of the "best" college.

What I noticed from the beginning was this pressure from outside sources to pick "the best" college. The first 40 years of the 20th-century college-goers saw college selection as the "blueprint that helped determine the course of their adult lives" (Kinzie et al., 2004, p. 6). Some were even bold enough to say “choosing a college is one of the three great choices of a woman’s life, exceeded in importance only by choosing a husband and choosing a career” (Castle,1938, p. 68 as cited in Kinzie et al., 2004, p. 6). I think I was more surprised they deemed choosing a career important for women in 1940 more than shocked that they mentioned how important it was to choose a husband. The point being, even though this was directed at affluent white students since at the time they were the ones mostly heading off to college, the rhetoric to pick the "right" or "best" college was already in motion way before the 1940s and it's only progressed in the 80 plus years since.

In the mid-1940s educators spoke out about the poor decisions students and families were making when it came to college choices. According to Kinzie et al., Tunis wrote: "Boys and girls and their parents too often choose an educational institution for strange reasons: because it has lots of outdoor life; a good football team; a lovely campus; because the president or the dean or some professor is such a nice man" (1939, p. 7, as cited in Kinzie et al., 2004, p. 7). And I thought, um, yeah, I don't think a lot has changed today, and I'm not so sure that's a bad thing. Okay, I get maybe you shouldn't choose a college solely dependent on their football team (if you're not playing for the school), but if you line up your best options and all being equal except for the football team, then I'm not going to belittle you for making it your first choice school :)

In the 1960s the rhetoric continued with publications and educators urging students to make the "best" college choice and as Kenzi et al point out, "It was common during this period for students to be told that at least half of all college dropouts could be attributed to poor college choice" (2004, p. 19). Well, that's a lot of pressure.

But what I found so interesting in this report was I couldn't find what these educators and experts would deem a good college choice. There were suggestions in the 60s for students to have discussions with their parents and school counselors, but about what? I guess I can assume they are still talking about the essential college-choice recommendations from the 1920s and 1930s that included "curricular offerings of the college, geographical location, coeducation, size of the college, type of institution (college or university, public or private, urban or rural), size of the college endowment, campus climate and the religious atmosphere on campus (Comfort, 1925; Ripperger, 1933, as cited in Kinzie et al., 2004, p. 6).

Or when Kinzie et al. state, "In the 1960s, a poor college choice was often described as the result of 'ignorance' or poor guidance on the part of the high school counselor" (2004, p. 19) what does that mean exactly? Did these students drop out and so their choice of college was determined to be a poor choice? Why was it a poor choice? Did it not have the major they wanted to study because they chose the football team over the curricular offerings?

Ultimately, studies found through the decades students consistently chose colleges based on financial factors, proximity to home, and academic reputation. There were more factors depending on race, gender, and social status, but these three factors seemed to show up near the top pretty consistently especially after 1950 when academic reputation became more and more important to the middle and upper class (Kinzie et al., 2004).

Here's the thing. After a student has factored in the colleges of their choice have the majors they want to study what other factors are important? There have always been institutions that have been considered "elite" but I begin to wonder if it's all a ploy on who has the best marketing tactics. I know, I know. US News and World Report have a ranking system to tell you which is the best college in a million different categories and it's real easy to get caught up in thinking that if I don't go to the best I'll be making a poor decision.

Consider this statement by Kinzie et al (2004): "The increase in marketing by colleges made the 'admissions game' more visible to prospective students and their families. The emphasis on college rankings in the popular media fueled student and parental beliefs (emphasis mine) that institutional status and college prestige had a great influence on personal success in later life ... Colleges are placing greater emphasis on admissions marketing; and pressure on students and their choice processes is increasing (emphasis mine)." (p. 43).

I'm a broken record on this blog but as the parent of a first-year college student, I've just witnessed the pressure and stress that goes into making the college choice decision. I can't speak for everyone, but as a family who sits firmly in the middle of the middle-class scale, cost was one of our biggest deciding factors. And while my son had a GPA of 3.98 and an ACT score of 33 out of 36 the merit scholarships only felt substantial at the school he listed as last choice. In the end, that's the school he chose mainly because of finances and because it had a bachelor's to master's in 5 years program in the area he was most interested in. There were a few elite schools on his list but the price was too much to consider. I even fell into the trap thinking, Is he making the best choice? Is it worth it to go hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for the elite alumni relationships and possible job opportunities after college at the more elite schools? Does the price tag of the school really account for the quality of education? In the end, he made the choice on his own to choose less debt over elitism. I have to say, I was probably more sucked in by the "name brand" than he was and I'm extremely proud of him for not being sucked into the marketing and "admissions game" to make his decision.

“The wise parent helps his child to find out about college, offers his advice and then keeps quiet. Unless the youngster makes the final decision himself, he will never really be happy in his college life” (Lovejoy & Lobsenz, 1954, p. 107, as cited in Kinzie et al., 2004, p.12).

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College Students in the United States: Characteristics, Experiences, and Outcomes

Chapter 4

LINK

Renn, C. A. & Reason, R. D. (2021). Characteristics of college students in the United States. College students in the United States: Characteristics, experiences, and outcomes (2nd ed., pp. 55-70). Stylus.

Key Points: xx

Initial Thoughts: xx

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National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition

University of South Carolina. (2021). National resource center for the first-year experience and students in transition. https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/national_resource_center/index.php

Key Points: The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition has a "mission to advance and support efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education" (University of South Carolina, 2021, Our History). It was established through a series of events that began back in 1970 with then-President Thomas Jones and his idea to bring the students together by implementing a University 101 freshmen experience course. University of South Carolina has since become the recognized leader and trusted expert in "for scholarship, policy, and best practice for the first-year experience and all postsecondary student transitions" (University of South Carolina, 2021, Our History). The website events, publications, and research centered around students in transition.

Initial Thoughts: I mainly looked around at som e of the different resources and one of their current studies with the Advising Success Network (ASN) caught my eye: Career Advising as a Tool for Student Success and Educational Equity. Their affiliation with the ASN reminded me Georgia State's Student Success Programs which involves proactive advising. (For a quick report of their story, click HERE.) As a graduate assistant in freshman advising and current advisor to 280 freshmen, The case study for shared for Academic Advising as a

Tool for Student Success and Educational Equity is definitely something I want to dig further into.

"Effective advisors build trusting relationships with advisees to help them recognize and accept responsibility as active participants in their educational and professional journeys" (Fox & Martin, 2017, as cited in University of South Carolina, 2021)