Money is increasingly affecting students’ college choices and is one of the main reasons they are pursuing a degree, according to a nationwide survey of first-time college freshmen.
The annual report by the University of California at Los Angeles’ Cooperative Institutional Research Program found that more students in 2012 believed that the current economic situation significantly affected their college choices—66 percent, compared with 62.1 percent in 2010. Asked the most important reasons for choosing a college, 43.3 percent of freshmen in 2012 cited “cost of attending,” compared with 40.6 percent in 2011.
Higher percentages of students last year than in 2011 said they were going to college to get a better job and “to be able to make more money.”
