Why Do Qualified Students Choose Not to Attend College?

Why do students who are academically qualified to attend college choose not to go? That was the question explored in a November 2008 study conducted by the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The report, Promise Lost: College-Qualified Students Who Don’t Enroll in College, surveyed 1,800 college-qualified students (one thousand who did not attend college and eight hundred who did) and six hundred high school counselors to better understand students’ motivations for attending and not attending college.

The study, which defined “college-qualified students” as those who had graduated from high school, maintained at least a 2.5 GPA, taken a college-preparatory curriculum, and taken algebra, pre-calculus, calculus, and/or trigonometry, found that there are a distinctive set of factors that tend to influence students’ decision not to attend college. These include demographics, college cost and financial aid availability, college-enrollment steps completed, and opportunity cost. The study report concluded with policy suggestions to help college-qualified students clear the hurdles to attending college—including better assistance in applying for and understanding financial aid options, and modifications to the expected family contribution formula to help offset the opportunity costs of attending college.

FINDINGS

Demographics

• Non-college-goers were more likely to be black (29 percent) than college-goers (21 percent).
• Parents of non-college-goers were more likely to have only a high school degree or less (37 percent) versus parents of college-goers (31 percent).
• More than one-third of non-college-goers (38 percent) received free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) in high school.

Costs of Attending College/Opportunity Costs

• More than 80 percent of non-college-goers—regardless of race or socioeconomic status—reported that the availability of grant or scholarship aid was “extremely” or “very” important to their college decision.
•  More than 70 percent of college counselors reported that tuition costs and not having enough financial aid were “almost always” or “frequently” the reasons non-college-goers decided not to enroll.
• Thirty-eight percent of all non-college-goers, and almost half of black students and FRPL students, reported that the need to work, rather than attend college, was “extremely” or “very” important.

Academic Preparation and Motivation

• Only 15 percent of non-college-goers applied to any college; 12 percent applied for financial aid and 10 percent took the SAT.
• Less than one-third of non-college-goers cited academic preparation as influencing their college-going decision, compared to 76 percent of college-goers.
• Fifty-one percent of non-college-goers reported that they felt only “somewhat” or “not very well” prepared for college.

The entire study may be downloaded in PDF format from the Institute for Higher Education Policy Web site.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Almost one-third of non-college-going students report working more than 35 hours per week.
• Both college-goers (91 percent) and non-college-goers (88 percent) overwhelmingly reported that “personal motivation” was “extremely” or “very” important in their college decision.
• Only 20 percent of high school counselors thought that not completing financial aid forms was “almost always” or “frequently” important in non-college-goers’ failure to enroll.