From the rise of artificial intelligence in the classrooms of colleges to the rapid politicization of campus life, higher education has radically changed in recent years. So have the means that potential students choose their future Alma Maters, according to a new report of the EAB registration management consulting company.
The report, which is inspired by three recent surveys out of around 40,000 high school students and first year, found that the priorities of students in the choice of colleges to which apply are evolving, as well as best practices to reach and recruit them.
Investigations have shown that an increasing number of students consider politics when they decide where to apply. In fact, politics has become such an important part of the application puzzle that EAB questioned students on this subject for the first time this year.
Twenty-nine percent of potential students declared that they had withdrawn at least one college from their list due to the perceived policy of the campus, and 16% did it due to the policies of the state where this college is found, according to the EAB report. Fourteen percent of the respondents said they had withdrawn a college from consideration because they thought it was too conservative, and 8% did the same because they considered it too liberal.
These results echo Another investigation Released by Art & Science Group in October, which found that 28% of students considered politics in their university research process. And the problems of policy of the state of the hot button, such as reproduction rights and the laws on the control of firearms, were a factor in almost 80% of the decisions of the applicants in 2023-20124, according to a March report of Gallup and the Lumina foundation.
But EAB’s report shows that when political spotlights shine brighter on higher education, the role of policy in the application process has only become more important.
Pam Royall, head of the EAB research and co-author of the report, said that the cabinet asked the political question on its investigations for the first time this year after a growing number of responding students self-qualified on the role of policy in their university decision. It started in 2020, she said, after the varied responses of the college to the Cavid-19 pandemic, sparked a storm of debate on the safest means of containing the virus on the campus.
Since then, when higher education has become politicized at the federal and state levels, students’ reflection on their future education has also taken a more political fold-and therefore, the EAB survey, she said.
“We have evolved our method to allow this type of responses, which were not as widespread five years ago,” she said. “We have worked for schools that are located in Florida, and there are children who say they are going because it is in Florida or Texas, or that they do not leave because it is in Florida.”
But for all their concentration on politics, by far the most common reason for students to withdraw a college from their limited list was accessibility: 71% said they had removed an institution from their list because it was too expensive, and 47% said they had done it because it was too far from their home.
AI and Dei at the forefront
The report also underlined the The growing popularity of artificial intelligence By helping students navigating in the college research and request process. Ten years ago, said Royall, most of the students obtained their information on the websites of establishments; Now, almost half of the IA cat robots. Some AI counseling tools have grown more than 300% of their user base. But although the AI is increasingly popular, it is also considered to be one of the least reliable sources of information on colleges: only 3% of respondents said they found the information worthy of confidence.
Royall said that AI has become a semi-investor in the recruitment and awareness of colleges, but that it is too early to say if it is a good thing, especially since the tools of AI and the summaries of search engines frequently refer false or hallucinated responses.
“I am worried because the verification that the information receives is so difficult,” she said. “If you ask me in a year, I would say that I am more confident. Right now, I’m not. “
Students also strongly consider their sense of belonging, emotional well-being and campus security to make their college decisions. And as the institutions have closed the DEI offices due to changes in State And federal Student policy and demonstrators are arrested and suspended or expelled, an increasing number of potential students have declared that “security” and “well-being” include campus commitments both in diversity, with 53% of respondents, and freedom of expression, at 35%.
Even if students prioritize belonging, the institutions started Back up their commitments to groups to raise awareness of the diversity and affinity of the campus due to the anti-DEC directives of the Trump administration. Royall said that these DEI withdrawals have aroused a calculation in the world of registration management – and that the results of the survey illustrate that students want the advantages of awareness of diversity even if it presents itself in a different form.
“Very few institutions will have endurance or resources to be provocative,” she said. “So we are going to be challenged to think about this very differently because of the threat.”