CWU: S TUDENT & P ARENT S URVEY
20
COMPARISON OF STATE SCHOOLS
Parents were asked to briefly describe rate each of seven state universities and colleges and rate each as a potential “fit” for their son/daughter. More than 1 in 4 (27%) did not rate any of the 7 state schools as an “excellent” or “good” fit for their student. Another 30% rated only 1 of the 7 schools as an “excellent” or “good" fit. The University of Washington topped the list with 27% rating it an “excellent” fit, 23% rating it “good” and only 14% saying it was a “poor fit” for their student. Parents described it in general positive terms: 1/3 of parents said things like “excellent,” “good school” or similar non-specific terms. Some 84%were able to come up with a description for the UW, many of which focused on it size, selectivity and general excellence. Western Washington University was the second highest-rated school, with 31% calling it an “excellent”(12%) or “good” fit (19%) and only 14% rating it as a “poor” fit for their student. Just 68% could come up with a description of WWU, however, the bulk of which were non-specific positive (19%) or neutral descriptions (“Bellingham,” “education school”). Washington State University was third, with 32% rating it as an “excellent” (11%) or “good” fit (21%) but 22% calling it a “poor fit” for their son/daughter. The relatively high negative ratings may be related to its reputation as a party school. Some 18% of parents used that term to describe WSU. No other school had more than 2% of parents describe it as a party school. Central Washington University ranked fourth, with 19% rating is as an “excellent” (8%) or “good” fit (11%) and 28% saying it was a “poor fit” for their student. Some 28% said it was “acceptable,” a number even with UW, WWU and WSU. One-quarter (25%) did not know how to rate CWU as a fit for their student – indicating an awareness higher for all schools except UW and WSU. Nearly 1/3 (31%)of these parents could not come up with a description of CWU. Of those who did, a plurality were positive, with 1 in 4 saying something generally positive (e.g., “good school”) or citing academic programs. CWU’s location figured prominently in parents’ thinking about it: 1 in 5 said something about the location: 3% were positive, 8% were negative and 8% were neutral descriptions.
JUNE 2014
.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online