While a University of California, Los Angeles survey indicates students nationwide say academic reputation and financial aid affect the colleges they choose, students who choose to attend AU indicate they have other priorities in mind.
The UCLA survey's results were released last month from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program Freshman Survey, a survey conducted by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute.
The Higher Education Research Institute has conducted the CIRP Freshman survey annually since 1966. The institute gives the survey to more than 400,000 students during orientation or registration at approximately 700 schools. The survey asks questions ranging from parental income to student values, according to the CIRP Web site.
AU offers a similar survey to admitted students. Both surveys ask about income, race and high school grade point averages. Each survey also asks questions about student priorities on academic reputation, majors, facilities, cost and other college characteristics.
The results of the AU survey indicate that admitted students' most important characteristics in a school are its surroundings, off-campus opportunities, the availability of majors, extracurricular activities and the environment of academic excellence, according to Cristan Trahey, AU's acting director of admissions. Both academic reputation and available financial aid were present as choices on AU's survey.
Ben Landay, a freshman in the Kogod School of Business, said he decided to attend AU because of parental encouragement, but added that he feels it was the best school for him.
"There are great people, great opportunities, a city and a campus, and a good business school," he said.
Freshmen nationwide are becoming increasingly satisfied by how much their parents are involved in the college search process, according to the CIRP survey results. At AU, parents and students seem to be equally involved in the process, according to Trahey.
"We see a mixture of both students and parents contacting us to inquire about the university," Trahey said. "Parent involvement has certainly increased over the past few years, however, and that is to be expected given the research on this generation of students - the 'millennials.' Current students see their parents as partners in this process and may not necessarily be as eager to manage the search on their own."
Student concerns over tuition costs seem to be less prevalent here than at other schools, though still an issue, Trahey said.
"Price is certainly a growing factor families are considering as students embark on the college search process," she said. "We find that questions about financial aid and merit scholarships are always popular when we meet with students and families both on campus and during recruitment travel."
The average tuition increase at a four-year private college last year was 6.3 percent, according to a College Board survey.
AU tuition increased 6 percent from last year to this year, The Eagle previously reported.
Joe Layman, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and a student ambassador, said he didn't think tuition costs were a factor in students' decisions to attend AU.
"I think if you're expecting to go to a private institution in Washington, D.C., you're expecting to pay a lot of money," he said.
