In selecting a college, academics rank over athletics

In selecting a college, academics rank over athletics

Erie, Pa. -- In weighing the "risks" of attending a particular college, students and parents agree that academics comes first and athletics comes last, a Penn State researcher says.

"Academics" refers to the rigor of the coursework, class size and the types of courses available, says Phylis M. Mansfield, assistant professor of marketing at Penn State Erie. "Risk" refers to the unknowns in the college selection process, by which students and parents try to decide if the school will measure up to expectations. In selecting a college, the risk factor is important because it is difficult to transfer from one college to another without some cost in time and money.

"Our studies make clear that students and parents base college selection on how well that institution will overcome the perceived functional, financial, social, psychological and physical risks associated with the college experience," Mansfield notes.

To a surprising degree, students and parents concur that the academic reputation of a school -- including both quality of instruction and value of the degree -- is the best protection against the failure to meet "product" expectations, adds the faculty member in the Sam and Irene Black School of Business at Penn State Erie.

Mansfield and fellow researcher Jacquelyn Warwick, associate professor of marketing in the School of Business at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., identified 19 criteria used by students and parents in selecting a college or university. The researchers collected 192 surveys from students at eight private, religiously affiliated schools in five states. An identical survey was received from 66 parents.

They then determined the respective level of importance of each criterion for both student and parents, pinpointing the areas where students and parents agree or disagree. The researchers published their findings in the paper, "Perceived Risk in College Selection: Differences in Evaluative Criteria Used by Students and Parents," which appeared recently in the Journal of Marketing for Higher Education (The Haworth Press).

According to the researchers' data, students ranked the following search criteria in order of importance: (1.) academics (2.) tuition costs (3.) friendly atmosphere (4.) the availability of scholarships (5.) financial aid (6.) the type of degrees offered (7.) whether or not their friends will attend the same school (8.) security and safety on campus (9.) the reputation of the degree (10.) location of the school (11.) religious atmosphere (12.) professors (13.) reputation of school (14.) social activity (15.) weather (16.) size (17.) cultural diversity (18.) marriage prospects and (19.) athletics.

For parents, the top 19 search criteria were: (1.) religious atmosphere (2.) academics (3.) financial aid (4.) tuition (5.) security and safety (6.) friendly atmosphere (7.) reputation of the school (8.) the degrees offered (9.) scholarships (10.) professors (11.) reputation of degrees (12.) friends (13.) location (14.) social activity (15.) marriage prospects (16.) cultural diversity (17.) size (18.) weather (19.) athletics.

Because the study sample was taken from high school seniors at private religious schools, it was natural for parents to place the highest priority on religious atmosphere when picking a college for their son or daughter, Mansfield says. Once that is taken into consideration, one of the main discrepancies between student and parent search criteria disappears.

The researchers' data indicated that parents put a greater priority on physical security and marriage prospects than students. On the other hand, students and parents attached an equal level of importance to cultural diversity, a friendly atmosphere, whether or not the students' friends would be attending the same school, and the variety of social activities.

"While students consistently state that the final college selection decision is theirs alone, students usually know which schools are not going to win their parents' approval," Mansfield notes. "Thus, parents should be considered a customer, and knowing which factors affect parental satisfaction and the extent to which parents' and students' criteria agree is important.

"Understanding these differences will allow institutions to tailor recruitment information given to prospective students and their parents, better meeting the needs of both," she adds.