A new national study of young people suggests that the generation often regarded—and perhaps unfairly stereotyped—as being overly coddled and too often acting entitled is actually more practical than it is idealistic in attitudes about money and career preparation.
The recession and its lingering effects are heavily influencing the academic choices of the Millennial generation, according to leaders of the study of more than 5,600 people between ages 17 and 23 who are either college students or college-bound high school juniors and seniors.
A result of this mindset lies in the reasons given by study participants as to why they decided to apply for admission to a particular college. The top reason was that the institution offered the academic major the student planned to pursue, a response given by 55 percent of participants. Other popular reasons included affordable tuition, availability of scholarships or financial aid, likelihood of getting a job post-graduation and an academic “fit” for the student, with responses for those reasons varying from 51 to 41 percent.
Financial aid was particularly important to 88 percent of Black students and 87 percent of Hispanics, compared to only 76 percent of Whites. And 46 percent of Blacks and 41 percent of Hispanics were “extremely concerned” about how to afford college, compared with 30 percent of Whites.
Meanwhile, sports teams and Greek life don’t even crack the top 20 reasons for selecting a college, despite many universities aggressively showcasing such offerings, notes Deborah Maue, vice president of TRU, a Chicago-based, youth market research firm that commissioned the study.
“Young people may still be dreaming, but they’re thinking carefully about the risks involved with all of their decisions,” Maue says. Her firm has worked with global brands such as Nike and Google and organizations such as the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in connecting with younger audiences.
Maue adds, “Economic uncertainties have become very apparent to young people because they have seen so many families struggling, sometimes their own.”
