The Individual Determinants that affect the Consumer Behavior Process for Boston High School Seniors Choosing a College
In America it is generally during junior or senior year of high school, when students think about whether or not to pursue college after graduation. Many students may take the necessary courses and exams, such as the SATs, to allow entrance into the institutions that they hope for. It is not until senior year of high school when students really start the college-application and essay-writing processes of this long endeavor to make their parents proud and to be placed with the other 46% of Americans who are in debt (http://www.bcsalliance.com/debt_amerstats.html).
It is the senior year of high school when students start attending college fairs, visiting college campuses and meeting regularly with their high school guidance counselors to prepare for college. Even the most organized of students can find this all quite overwhelming.
Whether it is purchasing a motor vehicle, renting an apartment or choosing a college for an undergraduate degree the consumer behavior process is all the same. Consumers must make decisions for goods and services; therefore higher education in essence is the service they are purchasing and is no exception to this process.
Consumer Behavior Purchasing Process
First, a high school senior (the consumer) acknowledges their need for a degree whether it comes from their parents’ influences or in some cases pressures, their peers or their own motivations and desires. According to the 2007 SRDS 33% of the 4.7 million people in the Boston DMA have a bachelor degree from a four year institution.
Bachelor degrees are highly flexible in the United States where colleges and universities offer a wide variety of courses geared at obtaining a specific Bachelor degree. Degrees are issued after students complete a specific amount of course credits in a specific major. United States students tend to take more than four years to complete a degree due to changing majors and/or taking less than full-time course work per semester (www.useducation.com).
Before applying to a four year college or university, students must first successfully complete twelve years of formal elementary and secondary education. They must also possess a good academic record and have financial support or financial means to pay for a four year degree (www.useducation.com).
After a high school senior recognizes their own need and desire to further their education they must then search for information on where they want to apply. There are many resources students can turn to that help organize and address these concerns. The Princeton Review offers help with specifying what to consider when choosing a college. Before a high school senior determines where they want to apply they need to ask themselves two important questions: Do I want to go to school here for four years? Do I want to live here for four years? The Princeton Review states that the second question is more important than the first. Seniors need to think about the location of the school they are applying to, whether they want to attend a large or small institution, live on campus or commute, the average class size and student/teacher ratio, whether the college or university offers the degree program(s) they are interested in and if they can afford to go to there. According to the Digest of Educational Statistics the 2006 median cost of tuition, room and board at public colleges or universities was $10,454 and $26,889 at private schools.
Seniors then employ evaluative criteria based on their individual and environmental influences, such as family and friends. Seniors assess the credibility of the college or university along with the opinions of their family and friends. Typically, high school seniors apply to one “safety” school (a college or university that they know they will definitely get into) and one “reach” school (a college or university that may be a little bit of a stretch for acceptance mostly due to overall academic grades and/or SAT scores), along with one to three other schools that they would like to go to. There are nine state colleges in Massachusetts and five state universities (www.mass.edu). Boston high school seniors looking to live away but stay local have quite an array to choose from when applying. Another factor in Boston high school seniors choosing a four year college after graduation is whether or not their parents went to school and how well or not so well off they are because of it. According to the Massachusetts state government website (www.mass.gov) in 2006, only 80% of Massachusetts high school students graduated from a four year high school and only 62% of high school students in urban school districts graduated; while 11.7% of students drop-out of school all together. However, with 15.3% of Boston families living below the poverty line one would hope this would create motivation to graduate high school and pursue a degree to obtain a profession.
The consumption process for the high school senior will begin once he or she enrolls and begins college. They will not be at the post-consumption evaluation stage until they approach their college graduation. This consumer behavior process typically does not begin until high school; however Boston is at the forefront for an early awareness movement for eighth graders (Talmadge 2007). Boston schools are beginning to expose them to the idea of higher education and get them on track for a four-year degree while still in middle school. Along with this initiative there is also the Massachusetts state-wide implementation of the MCAS exams beginning with the Class of 2003. The Class of 2003 was the first to be required to pass the MCAS grade 10 English, Language Arts and math exams with a minimum scaled grade of 220 to meet competency requirements for a high school diploma.
Conclusion
Similar to any purchase or goods or services, Boston high school seniors have the go through the consumer purchasing process and have to take into consideration the many individual determinants that ultimately affect whether or not they go to college and where they attend.
In America it is generally during junior or senior year of high school, when students think about whether or not to pursue college after graduation. Many students may take the necessary courses and exams, such as the SATs, to allow entrance into the institutions that they hope for. It is not until senior year of high school when students really start the college-application and essay-writing processes of this long endeavor to make their parents proud and to be placed with the other 46% of Americans who are in debt (http://www.bcsalliance.com/debt_amerstats.html).
It is the senior year of high school when students start attending college fairs, visiting college campuses and meeting regularly with their high school guidance counselors to prepare for college. Even the most organized of students can find this all quite overwhelming.
Whether it is purchasing a motor vehicle, renting an apartment or choosing a college for an undergraduate degree the consumer behavior process is all the same. Consumers must make decisions for goods and services; therefore higher education in essence is the service they are purchasing and is no exception to this process.
Consumer Behavior Purchasing Process
First, a high school senior (the consumer) acknowledges their need for a degree whether it comes from their parents’ influences or in some cases pressures, their peers or their own motivations and desires. According to the 2007 SRDS 33% of the 4.7 million people in the Boston DMA have a bachelor degree from a four year institution.
Bachelor degrees are highly flexible in the United States where colleges and universities offer a wide variety of courses geared at obtaining a specific Bachelor degree. Degrees are issued after students complete a specific amount of course credits in a specific major. United States students tend to take more than four years to complete a degree due to changing majors and/or taking less than full-time course work per semester (www.useducation.com).
Before applying to a four year college or university, students must first successfully complete twelve years of formal elementary and secondary education. They must also possess a good academic record and have financial support or financial means to pay for a four year degree (www.useducation.com).
After a high school senior recognizes their own need and desire to further their education they must then search for information on where they want to apply. There are many resources students can turn to that help organize and address these concerns. The Princeton Review offers help with specifying what to consider when choosing a college. Before a high school senior determines where they want to apply they need to ask themselves two important questions: Do I want to go to school here for four years? Do I want to live here for four years? The Princeton Review states that the second question is more important than the first. Seniors need to think about the location of the school they are applying to, whether they want to attend a large or small institution, live on campus or commute, the average class size and student/teacher ratio, whether the college or university offers the degree program(s) they are interested in and if they can afford to go to there. According to the Digest of Educational Statistics the 2006 median cost of tuition, room and board at public colleges or universities was $10,454 and $26,889 at private schools.
Seniors then employ evaluative criteria based on their individual and environmental influences, such as family and friends. Seniors assess the credibility of the college or university along with the opinions of their family and friends. Typically, high school seniors apply to one “safety” school (a college or university that they know they will definitely get into) and one “reach” school (a college or university that may be a little bit of a stretch for acceptance mostly due to overall academic grades and/or SAT scores), along with one to three other schools that they would like to go to. There are nine state colleges in Massachusetts and five state universities (www.mass.edu). Boston high school seniors looking to live away but stay local have quite an array to choose from when applying. Another factor in Boston high school seniors choosing a four year college after graduation is whether or not their parents went to school and how well or not so well off they are because of it. According to the Massachusetts state government website (www.mass.gov) in 2006, only 80% of Massachusetts high school students graduated from a four year high school and only 62% of high school students in urban school districts graduated; while 11.7% of students drop-out of school all together. However, with 15.3% of Boston families living below the poverty line one would hope this would create motivation to graduate high school and pursue a degree to obtain a profession.
The consumption process for the high school senior will begin once he or she enrolls and begins college. They will not be at the post-consumption evaluation stage until they approach their college graduation. This consumer behavior process typically does not begin until high school; however Boston is at the forefront for an early awareness movement for eighth graders (Talmadge 2007). Boston schools are beginning to expose them to the idea of higher education and get them on track for a four-year degree while still in middle school. Along with this initiative there is also the Massachusetts state-wide implementation of the MCAS exams beginning with the Class of 2003. The Class of 2003 was the first to be required to pass the MCAS grade 10 English, Language Arts and math exams with a minimum scaled grade of 220 to meet competency requirements for a high school diploma.
Conclusion
Similar to any purchase or goods or services, Boston high school seniors have the go through the consumer purchasing process and have to take into consideration the many individual determinants that ultimately affect whether or not they go to college and where they attend.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment