Central Washington University Awareness & Opinions of CWU Among College-bound High School Students And Parents in Washington State June 2014 INTRODUCTION
This report summarizes the results of two surveys conducted on behalf of Central Washington University: one of college-bound high school students and another of parents of college-bound high school students. The purpose was to assess the criteria students and their parents use to evaluate college options and their ideas about Central Washington University. The objective of this research was to aid CWU administrators in the development of strategies to expand its student body by increasing the awareness and appeal of CWU among students and their parents. To that end, the surveys were designed to explore the process of choosing a college and to evaluate CWU’s position among state schools in Washington. It is often said that “perception is reality.” More to the point: state students’ and parents’ perceptions constitute CWU’s operational reality. What they think about CWU constrains your ability to achieve your goals and objectives. This research is based on the notion that people will act in accordance with how they see a situation -- the mental pictures they have about it. The analysis therefore seeks to develop a picture of Central through the eyes of state high schools students and their parents. Understanding these perspectives will increase CWU’s ability to develop effective strategies to communicate with them. “College-bound” was operationalized for this study as high schools students who had taken one of the college prep exams (PSAT, ACT, PLAN). A sample was drawn from a comprehensive list of students who had taken at least one of these tests and a second sample was drawn from the same list for the parents survey. In all, this survey included 1006 Washington households in which there was a college- bound high school student. The surveys were conducted on-line. Letters of invitation went out in early May to 4000 students asking them to go to the questionnaire website and take the survey. Some 529 students took the survey between May 9–27, 2014. A similar letter went out addressed “to the parents or guardians of” 6000 additional students. Some 477 parents completed the survey between May 9 and June 8.
JUNE 2014
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