The vast majority of high school students consider the political environment of a college before selecting where to attend school, a new study found.
The study , done by education marketing and consulting firm Echo Delta, found that 76% of high school students take state and campus political climate into consideration before deciding where to continue their educations. Weighed against other considerations, such as cost, education quality, and school location, political concerns account for about 20% of the final decision, according to the report.
"Our research shows just how far politics has infiltrated into virtually every aspect of American life. Twenty years ago, state and campus politics weren't an important factor for most students when it came to choosing a college. That's all changed," Jarrett Smith, the senior vice president at Echo Delta, told the Washington Examiner. "For many students, political climate is just as important as other factors like reputation and student life. For some, it's a make-or-break factor in where they'll attend."
"Some of our results were encouraging. For instance, we find the majority of college-bound high school students support free speech, regardless of their political affiliation," Smith continued. "And despite the campus protests making headlines, most of those students prefer colleges and universities to remain neutral on political issues."
The analysis comes after the spring semester saw chaotic pro-Palestinian protests and encampments that disrupted campus and graduations at colleges across the country. Many of the agitators plan to continue those protests as the fall semester starts in the coming weeks. Aside from the protests, universities have historically been understood as far-left political actors and have advanced ideologies, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion , critical race theory, and gender theory, that have become increasingly unpopular in recent years.
About 86% of students heading to college say they look for identifying factors that enable them to determine the political climate of a college campus, and 82% look for factors about the politics of the state in which the college is located.
While left-leaning students are most concerned about attending school in Texas, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and South Carolina, conservative students are most worried about California and New York.
A majority of students (52%) believe the political factors defining the campus influence their learning environment. Of the students who are looking at colleges in states that do not align with their own political views, 32% are concerned about fear of discrimination or harassment, 30% are concerned about not belonging, and 29% are concerned about personal safety.
Ultimately, however, only 12% of students said a campus's or state's political climate differing from their own would drive them away from attending, and those students are more likely to be left-wing and highly politically active, according to the study. Twice that many students said those political considerations would have no impact on their choice to attend a certain school.
According to the study, 77% of high school students attending college support free speech, even when that speech is offensive to others, and 73% believe colleges should remain neutral on political topics. Institutional neutrality, principles derived from a 1967 University of Chicago document known as the Kalven Report , is a major goal of many conservatives looking to reform higher education to pare back academia's anti-conservative bias.
About half of students going into college identify as politically moderate, but political identification stratifies more along demographic lines. White students are the most politically polarized group. Just over 29% of the respondents said they identify as liberal, and over 20% said they were conservative. Five percent said they were extremely liberal, while 4% said they were extremely conservative.
Eleven percent of students say they are highly politically active, and the majority of those students are liberal.
Despite identifying as moderate, some of the top political concerns of students in the study appear left-wing. The No. 1 concern among the students is racial equity at 58%, healthcare at 56%, and, diverging from the left-wing political pattern, freedom of speech at 53%.
After freedom of speech, the next top concerns are the ability to get an abortion (49%), gun control (49%), voting rights (38%), and LGBT issues (38%).
The study looked at parents' political preferences affecting where high school students attend college and found that about 24% said the preference of their parents would have a moderate or high impact. A parent's politics was most influential among conservative students, 64% of whom reported sharing their parents' political preferences.
Sixty-six percent of moderate students also reported sharing the political beliefs of their parents. Breaking the trend, 61% of liberal students said they had conservative parents.
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"This study provides crucial insights into the evolving priorities of prospective college students in today's divisive political landscape," Smith said in a statement. "Understanding these dynamics is essential for educational institutions aiming to attract and retain a diverse student body."
The study was taken from March 4 to March 8 among 1,044 high school students ages 16 through 18 who plan to attend a four-year college within three years.
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