A new survey reveals that 30% of high school students are delaying their college start date while 13% plan to change their original chosen institution due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Around 1,000 teenagers between the ages of 13-18 participated in the “The Financial Impact of COVID-19” survey, which was carried out by the non-profit organization Junior Achievement USA and Citizens Financial Group.
For 57% of high school students, there is concern about how COVID-19 will impact their future plans such as attending college, the survey found. As much as 44% of high school juniors and seniors said the pandemic has impacted their college affordability plans. And now, 58% of teenagers are more likely to take out student loans for school.
“With a lot of seniors getting ready to graduate and juniors starting to think about what they’re going to do after high school, we wanted to get a better idea if those plans were changing because of what’s happening,” said Ed Grocholski, senior vice president of brand at Junior Achievement USA. “They are not taking this for granted, they are really focused right now and not just kind of waiting to see what’s going to happen in a few months.”
For those students already admitted at a university or college, Grocholski suggested that institutions remain proactive in being transparent with information and decisions in the coming weeks and months.
“Even if they haven’t made a decision yet to go online, say for the fall semester, they should at least communicate with incoming freshman to explain what are some of the options they are looking at just so these kids have that information as they’re planning to go to school in the fall,” he added.
Almost three-quarters of teenagers said they have had discussions with their parents or guardians about the financial impact of the virus. Additionally, 24% said their parents or caregivers had shared their concerns about whether or not they would be able to pay the bills and 13% had a parent or guardian lose their job, according to the survey.
