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Parents and family are welcome to a FREE meal at 5:30 pm (GEAR UP student/s...
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Parents and GEAR UP student/s (family welcome also) are invited to meet in the USU...
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Parents and GEAR UP student/s (family welcome also) are invited to meet in the banquet...
Student Poll - Parent Involvement in College Planning
High school students want parents to be more involved in college planning
“Helicopter parents” is today’s somewhat pejorative term for parents who are overly involved in their children’s lives and unwilling to let their children make independent decisions.
Recent articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal as well popular essays such as Nancy Gibbs’ “Parents Behaving Badly,” which appeared recently in Time magazine, have raised the alarm about this intrusive parental behavior.
But given that recent media coverage has been largely based on
anecdote rather than solid evidence, we decided to make the helicopter
parent phenomenon the focus of the first issue of Student Poll
produced under a new collaboration between the College Board and Art
& Science Group. Our findings are surprising and revealing, and for
some, perhaps, comforting.
College-bound high school seniors are generally satisfied with the
current level of their parents’ involvement in the college search
process. But nearly 30 percent want more, not less, parental
involvement, a figure that jumps to over 40 percent among students with
lower SAT scores and household incomes.
To some degree, these findings appear to defy recent media reporting
and other anecdotal evidence about “helicopter parents,” in particular
the perception of a rising level of intrusive and alarming behavior. Our
intent is not to distract attention from what is a set of legitimate
concerns about the impact, on their children and others, of parents who
just “won’t let go.” And without baseline data, we cannot confirm that
the phenomenon is actually growing. But it is important to keep in
perspective the difference between anecdote and behavior in the fuller
context. We hope this survey is useful in letting one see the individual
stories in context and in understanding the parallel problem of
students who actually need more support.
Should we be alarmed or comforted by what we see in parental
behavior? Highly regarded scholarship demonstrates conclusively that
parental engagement has a positive impact on student success. For
example, a study completed by the Harvard Family Research Project
provides compelling evidence that parental expectations strongly
influence student achievement in grades K-12. For less motivated
students, it appears that more parental involvement might actually be
welcome, and would likely be helpful.
At the same time, in The Price of Privilege, Madeline Levine
describes much current parent behavior, especially among the affluent,
as a cultural phenomenon, theorizing that work and time pressures have
narrowed parents’ social networks, making their children a greater focus
of their time and emotional attention.
College and secondary school officials might consider seeing
increased parental involvement as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Engaged and interested parents can be much more easily mobilized to
support the academic achievement of their children, meet volunteer
needs, provide philanthropic support, and become advocates for the
institutions their children attend.
The Millennial generation has been a particular source of curiosity
among college and university presidents, trustees, enrollment officers,
and student life staff. But aside from a few popular books on
Millennials, whose assumptions are supported largely by anecdote or a
few focus groups with students, there is scant empirical evidence to
support the speculation about the values and behavior of the
turn-of-the-century generation, particularly as they relate to college
consideration and choice.
To help fill this empirical void, we decided to devote this issue of Student Poll to the evidence about Millennials and how they differ from previous generations of college students, drawing both on Student Poll’s own research and longitudinal data from the Cooperative Institute Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey.
Last fall, Student Poll administered an online survey to a
national sample of college-bound rising high school seniors. This survey
focused on how Millennials perceive themselves to be different from
their parents on a variety of factors relating to college choice. Such a
survey, of course, is about self-perceived differences, and measures
values and attitudes at only one point in time. It is helpful, but not
definitive.
To understand true generational change, consistent measures have to
be taken over a long period of time, at least one generation or more,
about 40 years. There is only one such source of longitudinal data on
the attitudes of college students: surveys conducted by CIRP, part of
the Higher Education Research Institute based at the University of
California, Los Angeles. CIRP researchers have conducted an annual
survey — the Freshman Survey — of incoming college freshmen every year
since 1966. The survey is administered during orientation by more than
700 colleges and universities nationwide, with 272,000 students
participating in the fall 2007 survey.
This issue of Student Poll, a collaboration of the College Board, Art & Science Group, and CIRP, synthesizes data from the recent Student Poll survey on Millennials as well as key findings from CIRP’s 2007 report, and its 2006 report, The American Freshman: Forty Year Trends.
The findings from these surveys puncture large holes in much of the
conventional wisdom about Millennials, but also provide solid evidence
for other conclusions about this generation. In many respects, the data
show that Millennials are more like their parents than different.
More than anything, the findings confirm that generational change is
gradual and transitional, with few abrupt shifts, and that gross
generalizations about an entire generation do not capture important
subtleties and differences. The findings also sound a warning first
raised in 1949 by the psychologist Benjamin Forer. He posited the idea —
now known as the Forer Effect — that people are highly disposed to
accept vague, generalized, positive personality descriptions about
themselves or about people like themselves, and to gravitate toward
answers that simplify and order a complex world.
In an era when the socioeconomic and racial diversity and complexity
of the college-bound population is greater than it has ever been,
nothing could be more dangerous. So we offer this issue of Student Poll
in the spirit of encouraging more thoughtful and nuanced consideration
of the student populations entering our college campuses today.
1 Parents are much more involved in matters affecting their child’s future than in day-to-day activities. By far, parents’ greatest involvement concerns college planning.
We asked students to what extent their parents were involved in
different choices and decisions in their lives — from everyday matters
(e.g. books they read, TV shows they watch, clothes they wear) to
important life plans, like college and careers.
College plans were at the top of the list for nearly all the
respondent groups we interviewed. More than 50 percent of the students
surveyed indicated that parents were very involved in their college plans. (Only five percent reported that their parents were not at all involved in the college selection process.)
Nearly one-third of students also indicated that parents were very
involved in helping them think about future career choices. One-quarter
of respondents also indicated that their parents were very involved in
helping them get jobs during the summer and after school, and helping
them decide what courses to take in high school.
By contrast, only small percentages of students reported extensive
parental involvement in everyday decisions about books, television
programming, clothes, and the like.
2 A sizeable segment of students want their parents more — not less — involved in the college search process.
While 3 out of 5 students are satisfied with the level of parental involvement, the vast majority of the remainder (28 percent of the total) actually want their parents to be more involved. Only 6 percent of the students surveyed who reported some parental involvement in their college search reported that they want their parents less involved.
3 Parents’ greatest involvement in the college selection process focuses on college cost considerations.
Among the 95 percent of students who indicated their parents were
very involved or involved to some degree in their college plans, a
sizeable percentage indicated that their parents were very involved with
or actually took care of the following cost-related tasks:
-
Filling out financial aid forms (43 percent)
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Deciding what colleges they could afford (44 percent)
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Researching college costs (38 percent)
4 Students’ responses reveal little evidence of extreme or intrusive parental involvement.
Clearly, parents are providing considerable help to their children in
the college selection process. For example, more than 30 percent of
students reported that their parents were very involved or by themselves
planned and scheduled college interviews, accompanied the student on a
campus tour, chose the schools best for the student, and developed the
initial list of schools to be considered.
However, despite recent stories in the popular press about strongly
controlling parents (e.g., asking to sit with their child during college
admissions interviews) only a small number of students reported what
could be considered extreme behavior on the part of their parents. Only 1
percent of students reported that their parents wrote their application
essays, and fewer than 3 percent reported that parents filled out their
applications. While even these small numbers will trouble to college
officials, the actual incidence of this behavior seems to be lower than
anecdotal opinion indicates.
5 Much of the reported parental involvement is actually very positive and supportive.
For example, nearly half of the students whose parents were involved
in their college plans indicated that their parents had encouraged or
insisted that they apply to schools they hadn’t considered.
Regardless of income level and child’s academic ability, parents who
were deeply involved in the college selection and application process
were more likely to persuade students to apply to schools they hadn’t
considered. The main reason parents encouraged students to apply to
these schools was word of mouth — they simply had heard good things
about the college or university from a friend and/or family member.
Judgments about affordability and quality were secondary factors.
6 Both students with lower SAT scores and male students report higher levels of parent involvement.
-
The findings revealed that levels of parental involvement increased as SAT scores declined. Parents of students with lower SAT scores tended to be move involved in the day-to-day decisions of their children.For example, roughly one-third of students in the lowest scoring quintile of SAT test-takers reported their parents were very involved in their decisions about the friends they hang out with, the time they spend doing homework, the sports they play in high school, and the kinds of clubs or activities they are involved in at school.
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Male students report a higher level of parent involvement than females. For example, parents of male students were more likely to have been very involved or have done by themselves college-search-related activities such as collecting information on the web, contacting colleges for information, filling out applications, and encouraging the student to apply to certain schools.
Helicopter Parent Quiz
To help parents think about their role in the college planning and
selection process, we have developed a quick “Helicopter Parent Quiz,”
which is available on the College Board’s website. By responding to a
short series of questions about areas of involvement in the college
admission process, parents can receive feedback about how best to strike
a healthy balance in encouraging the student’s thinking about college
without interfering with their growing self-reliance. The quiz and
related article can be accessed at www.collegeboard.com/helicopterquiz.
Study Methodology
The findings reported in this Student Poll are based on
1,778 responses from a random national sample of 75,000 high school
seniors who took the SAT and who completed an optional web-survey
between 12/1 and 12/15/06. The results of this survey are accurate at
the 95% confidence level plus or minus 5%.
About Student Poll
A collaboration between the College Board and Art & Science Group LLC, Student Poll
presents the results from a series of national surveys that measure the
opinions, perceptions, and behavior of college-bound high school
students and their parents. Published for the benefit of college and
university senior leaders and enrollment officers as well as secondary
school college counselors, Student Poll seeks to provide
insights and understandings that will result in better communication and
service to college-bound students across the nation.
First published in 1995 by Art & Science Group, a leading national source of market intelligence for higher education, Student Poll
has become a trusted and widely-cited source of reliable data and
insights on many critical questions concerning college choice. The
College Board and Art & Science Group have now joined forces to
expand the depth and range of the issues that will be explored in Student Poll. The collaboration between these two organizations will make possible expanded content and increased frequency of reports.
Student Poll findings and analysis are provided free on both the College Board and Art & Science Group
web sites.
About the College Board and Art & Science Group
The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose
mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity.
Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,200 schools,
colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year,
the College Board serves seven million students and their parents,
23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs and
services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid,
enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are
the SAT®, the PSAT/NMSQT®, and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®).
The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and
equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs,
services, activities, and concerns.
Art & Science Group is one of
the nation’s most influential consulting firms specializing in
market-related issues facing higher education and the nonprofit sector.
The firm’s work synthesizes imagination and empirical rigor — art and
science. Its research is considered the most rigorous and innovative in
higher education today. The firm assists clients in every major arena of
marketing and communications: market-informed strategic planning;
enrollment management and student recruitment; development and alumni
relations; tuition pricing and financial aid. The firm has extensive
experience working with a large variety of public and private
institutions of higher learning, ranging from comprehensive private and
public research universities to small liberal arts colleges.
Student Poll is published by the College Board
and Art & Science Group, LLC.
Copyright © 2007 The College Board and Art & Science Group, LLC.
Published March 7, 2007