How are high schoolers making college school choice now? Are they basing their higher education opportunities on affordability, location, curriculum, or the university’s brand name? According to recent polls, these considerations are no longer a top priority. Instead, undergraduates are more concerned about the politics of the school while at the same time wanting a diverse student body. Will this new trend further divide our country?
For some, choosing a school depended on its qualification process. According to research done by Niche, a website that helps parents and their children connect with schools, a survey revealed “students mentioned that there were too many requirements, they wanted fewer essays, and did not want to be required to submit test scores.” Furthermore, politics seemed to be the greater influencer.
A new study by Art & Science Group concluded that one in four high school seniors “ruled out institutions solely due to the politics, policies, or legal situation in the state” where the institute was located. And “this behavior was statistically true across liberals, moderates, and conservatives.” The study asked three questions:
- Who is ruling out schools based on social policies in that state?
- Which states were excluded by students?
- Which state social policies facilitated student decisions to rule out schools they were considering?
Not surprisingly, young adults are as divided as today’s political parties. When it comes to school choice, conservatives are avoiding universities in California and New York while liberals are staying away from those in the Midwestern and Southern states, especially Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.
David Strauss, principal of the Art & Science Group, told Axios that shortly after the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade, and states were given the authority to decide abortion issues, he started getting calls from concerned parties. A college professor, for example, told him, “We’ve already had calls saying, ‘I’m not coming back.’ We already had calls asking, ‘What are you going to do to protect my daughter?’” And at the same time, “we’ve been hearing from the other side of the aisle, questions about whether conservative voices are not welcomed” on campus.
To make matters worse, “Nearly half of college students told pollsters in 2022 that they wouldn’t share a dorm room with someone of the opposite political party,” Axios explained. This makes it very difficult to be an “inclusive” and “diverse” institution, which is what the majority of young adults say is important, and may further impede free speech.
College campuses have come under fire in the past couple of years for forbidding conservatives to hold rallies while instructors and professors have been suspended or fired for speaking out against these policies. As educational authorities try to be more politically correct, they have adopted new guidelines to train educators on issues of diversity. But that doesn’t always have a positive reception. In Ohio, Republican lawmakers are proposing Senate Bill 83, the Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act, which would prohibit, among other things, “Mandated diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) courses and training for both staff and students,” Axios Columbus reported.
But it’s not just conservatives worried about not having freedom of speech: “about one-third of both liberal-leaning and conservative-leaning students registered apprehension around the practice of free speech on campus, assuming that voices like theirs politically might be squashed at colleges or universities located in certain states,” the poll relayed.
College campuses used to be the playground for budding activists across the spectrum. Protests, marches, rallies, sit-ins, and walk-outs were all part of the educational experience. While those still happen today, there is increasing fear and concern over what can be said, and more people are losing the liberty of speaking their beliefs.
(Photo by Xinhua via Getty Images)
Whatever is trending in politics also tends to be a factor when it comes to school choice, and abortion access is one of the biggest components in making the decision on which university to attend. A study from Lumina Foundation and Gallup revealed that nearly three-quarters, or 72%, of students currently enrolled in college claimed that laws governing reproductive issues were important to their choice.
Recently, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law forbidding abortions after six weeks into a pregnancy, which is a deterrent for many students seeking to relocate to the Sunshine State to further their education. The Republican lawmaker has also proposed and signed into law a variety of restrictions and guidelines pertaining to schools, which found, according to a survey conducted by Intelligent.com, “1 in 8 prospective college students say DeSantis policies have influenced them not to attend a Florida state school.” And “Overall, 91% of prospective college students and 79% of current college students disagree with DeSantis’ policies.”
It is important to note how the poll was conducted. According to the website, 1,000 Florida students were surveyed, but “only respondents who answered a screening question that they disagree with DeSantis’ education policies moved on to the full survey; 147 respondents were disqualified at this stage.”
However, Michael New, a Catholic University of America professor who studies abortion statistics, suggested enrollment was still high in states with restrictions or bans on the procedure. He cited Rice University in Texas, which has had the second-largest freshman class ever, and the University of Oklahoma, which has had the largest freshman class in history, according to The Washington Times. “Actual enrollment data found no evidence of low enrollments in universities located in states with laws in place protecting pre-born children.” As the Art & Science report emphasized:
“All this leads us to conclude that many prospective students are paying attention to political issues, be they general, longstanding perceptions and/or new and particular initiatives, and that is manifesting in the decision of about a quarter of them to eliminate specific colleges and universities from their consideration sets.”
In essence, college campuses are becoming more divided and polarized. So how should schools adjust to survive this new trend? According to the report, “With political polarization on the rise, and all regions set to see declines in the number of high school graduates in coming years, lawmakers and campus administrators would do well to take student convictions into account as political change-making continues to infiltrate campus life.”