On Politics and Prospects
Over the past couple years, something has emerged as a more prominent factor in student choice: politics. What began as a comment in a focus group here or a response in a survey there has become a routine discussion point in our research with prospective students around the country.
It began with students looking for more information about the political climate of a college’s campus - i.e., “will my views be accepted?” or, more commonly, “are my views the norm?”
This has evolved into an equal or greater focus on the political climate of the state where the college is located - i.e., “do I want to go to college in a state with that political environment?”
Our clients have seen this as well. Whether it’s the questions asked at open houses or quantifiable changes in applications, institutions sense that prospective students are increasingly factoring political climate into their college decisions.
It was in the midst of these observations, and with an eye to the election later this year, that my colleagues at Echo Delta and I began talking about how to better understand this issue. We surveyed over 1,000 prospective students to answer several overarching questions:
How important is political climate in students’ college decisions?
How widespread are concerns about state and campus politics?
How do students think political climate will impact their college experience?
How do students develop an idea of a college’s political climate?
What do students think colleges should do in response to political issues?
Perhaps most importantly, we wanted to know what, if anything, colleges can do to address these issues and reassure apprehensive students.
We learned A LOT in this survey - far more than I can share in this post. (I hear regularly that readers like this newsletter’s brevity and I’m committed to that!)
But if I could summarize the findings as succinctly as possible, it would be this:
State and campus political climates are substantial factors in students’ college decisions - e.g., 1 in 8 students rule out a college located in a state with a political climate that differs from their own views (see below)
Students’ top concerns about being in a political climate that differs from their own views include harassment, physical safety, mental well-being, and belonging
Students are adept at picking up on signals about a college’s political leaning from institutional websites and campus visits
Institutions are not helpless if they find their target students are wary of attending college in a state with a political climate that diverges from their own views; there are practical steps they can take to assert their focus on student safety and well-being and assure students that they have a place on campus
You can view and download the full report here.
Finally, part of the value of sharing these results so far has been hearing how institutions are navigating these very questions. What have you found to be successful? What are you hearing from students (current and prospective) and how is the institution responding? How are colleges practively communicating about these topics?
As the readers of this newsletter are nearly all enrollment and marketing professionals, I thought it would be valuable to organize a discussion of these topics among colleagues. If you are interested in participating, or even just listening the discussion, complete this quick Calendly meeting poll for possible discussion times in the next week. (a Zoom invitation will follow)
I hope you enjoy the full report and seeing all that we learned in this timely research.
As always thank you for reading!