CWU: S TUDENT & P ARENT S URVEY
31 Students inclined to apply or consider CWU were attracted by its location (41% volunteered that as an attraction in an open-ended question), good programs (23%), the campus (16%) and the atmosphere (12%). Asked the same open-ended question, parents who said CWU as a fit for their child named good programs (49%), the location (40%) and the campus (24%). Students who would not consider CWU, as well as parents who saw it as a poor fit for their child, were likely to describe Central as a not-highly-regarded back-up school. Both parents and students were also likely to describe it as relaxed, easy and isolated. Students who might consider CWU, as well as parents who thought it would be an “acceptable” fit for their child, were asked what they would want to know before applying to Central. For both samples, the dominant answer was that they wanted to know about “programs and degrees” offered. More than half (59%) of the students volunteered that response, as did a quarter (25%) of the parents. Students named cost and financial aid second (20%). Interestingly, cost was cited by only 6% of parents. Students who were not inclined to consider CWU and parents who saw it as a "poor fit” for their child were asked why not. Given a list of “possible reasons why someone would not apply to Central,” both students and parents listed as their top reason that they did not know enough about it: 52% of the students and 44% of the parents gave that reason. Location was #2 for both samples: it was tied for #1 among students at 52%, close behind #1 for parents at 39%. Reputation was third for students (34%) followed by lack of programs (32%). For parents, the order was reversed: 34% said lack of programs and 24% said reputation. Central’s size and the perception that “no one I know is going there” were more prominent reasons for students than parents. Students were twice as likely to list those reasons as were parents.
JUNE 2014
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