This book reports on a nine-year longitudinal study of the postsecondary educational decision-making process among a sample of high school students in Indiana. The study surveyed large numbers of students and also conducted in-depth interviews with a small number of students and parents. The book is organized into four parts, each with two…

This study focuses on the correlates of student preference for private institutions over public institutions in their senior year in high school. Results indicate that students' subjective responses to tuition costs and to financial aid availability are directly related to student preference for a certain type of postsecondary institution. (JM)

A three-stage model of college choice is outlined, and research related to the model is reviewed. The first phase is a developmental one in which students determine whether they would like to attend college. For students entering postsecondary studies, the second stage involves gathering information about educational options. The third state is…

A small liberal arts college's program of home visits for recruitment and admissions was evaluated. Forty students and several parents receiving home visits were classified by grades and eventual enrollment in the college, then surveyed. Results indicate the visits were the reason most applied. However, other factors were more strongly related to…

This study examined the correlates of high school students' preferences in their senior year to attend private or public higher education institutions, and especially the effects of student sensitivity to tuition costs and to financial aid. The data analyzed were from a longitudinal study (n=482) of student college choice. The dependent variable…

A study investigated the variables associated with high school students' sensitivity to tuition in the college-choice process, interaction of tuition and student aid, relationship of family and student characteristics to this sensitivity, and the roles of student perceptions and student institutional connections in price sensitivity. Subjects were…

Current literature on status attainment and student college choice is reviewed, and a structural model of predisposition to attend college is presented. Data from 2,497 ninth graders attending 21 high schools in Indiana and their parents, analyzed using LISREL, support the model's usefulness in determining students' college choice. (SLD)

A model of college student choice for male and female ninth graders using LISREL is examined. Variables examined included parents' expectation regarding higher education for their children, parents' savings for college, students' discussion of college with their parents, and students' aspiration for postsecondary education. (Author/MLW)

Enrollment management is discussed with focus on the expanding role of admissions professions and their increasing impact on institutional policymaking. Enrollment management influences the size, shape, and characteristics of a student body by directing student marketing and recruitment as well as pricing and financial aid. Attention is also…

The limited research available and the observations and experiences of college admissions officers suggest that college guidebooks and ratings have a small to negligible impact on the college choices of most students. However, many families buy the guides, and their publication is likely to continue. It is important that institutions provide…

The effects of family background characteristics (family income, parents' marital status, parents' education, and number of children already enrolled in postsecondary education) upon parents' postsecondary educational plans for their children, parents' saving for their children, and the amount of planning parents do with their children are…

A model of the decision-making process for college choice that has three phases (predisposition, search, and choice) is proposed, and the implications of this model for college and government policy formation are examined. (MSE)

This study examined a longitudinal data set (9th through 12th grade students from Indiana) to pose questions about the importance students place on certain college and university attributes as part of their college choice process. Using factor analysis, analysis of variance, and discriminant analysis on data about a representative sample of 110…

Compared development of postsecondary education plans of African American and White ninth graders, vs variables of the Hossler/Gallagher Three Phase Model of College Choice. Subjects were from 2,930 households with students attending 21 Indiana high schools. Results indicate the variables were more predictive for Whites than African Americans, and…

This study focuses on predictors of student sensitivity to college tuition and financial aid in their college choice process. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study on the postsecondary education choices of high school students in the state of Indiana. The variables student and family background, student academic characteristics, student…