One In Four High School Seniors Rule Out Colleges Based On State Politics And Policies

One in four high school seniors ruled out prospective colleges because of the politics, policies or legal situations in the states where the colleges were located. That’s one of the main findings from a a new survey released by the Art & Science Group, a higher-education consulting firm.

The survey, conducted in February, was based on responses from 1,865 high school seniors, 778 of whom said they were planning to attend college. The sample was 62% female, 62% white, and came from families with an average annual income of $93,000.

The pattern of ruling out colleges based on the predominant political and social policies of the states in which they were located was true for students of all political leanings. Among those identifying as liberal, 31% rejected institutions for such reasons, compared to 28% of those leaning conservative, and 22% of those saying they were political moderates.

The pattern of political preference influencing college attendance considerations was not affected by most individual characteristics. Respondents’ gender, race, income and region of the country did not make a statistically significant difference.

Two charactersitcis did moderate the results:

• A higher percentage of students identifying as LGBTQ+ (32%) reported rejecting institutions for political reasons than did students who identified as straight (21%).
• And non-first-generation college students were a bit more likely to link their college-going preferences to state politics (26%) than were first-generation students (19%).

The four states most likely to be rejected by liberal-learning students were Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. California and New York were the states most disfavored by conservative students.

A third of the respondents said they ruled out colleges in their home state because of its political or social policies.

The policy issues cited most often by liberal students for their college choices were states that were “too Republican,” too conservative on abortion laws, that showed a lack of concern on racial equity, were too conservative on LGBTQ laws, were too easy to get a gun and showed an inadequate concern about mental health issues.

Regarding their college preferences, conservative students singled out states for being too Democratic, too liberal on LGBTQ laws, for “squashing” conservative voices, and for having laws that are too liberal on abortion and reproductive rights.

These new results align with prior surveys showing that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade affected students’ college decision-making.

A survey conducted last year by BestColleges asked respondents whether the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would impact their decision to remain in the state where they currently attend college or attend college in a particular state for their undergraduate/graduate program.

• Among current undergraduates 43% answered yes to this question, 45% answered no, and 12% were unsure. Among current graduate students, 42% answered yes, 40% answered no, and 17% were unsure.
• Although prospective students were a bit less likely that enrolled students to say that the overturn of Roe v. Wade would affect their decision to attend college in a given state, 39% of prospective undergraduates and 35% of prospective graduate student said that it would.

Together, the survey findings point to one more challenge faced by colleges who are competing for a dwindling number of applicants. As the report concludes, “lawmakers and campus administrators would do well to take student convictions into account as political change-making continues to infiltrate campus life. And importantly, as the regional student markets shift, institutions will likely need to pay particular attention to their individual and distinctive positioning in order to attract students in their market despite challenges posed by state social policies.”