Report: Parents of Prospective College Students Worry about Cost and Safety

Michael KoppenhefferEAB, formerly the Education Advisory Board, periodically surveys parents of students applying to college to understand their attitudes and the factors that influence their behaviors. Its latest insight paper, “2024 Parent Survey: Understanding Top Parent Concerns in College Search, Insights and Recommendations for Enrollment Leaders,” presents data on parental responses as well as recommendations for how institutions can better serve the needs of prospective students and their families.

“It is not news that colleges and universities are expensive,” said Michael Koppenheffer, EAB vice president, Enroll360 marketing, analytics and AI strategy and a contributing consultant to the paper. “It is also true in our surveys that concern over cost has become more prevalent. You can see that the sticker price of colleges keeps going up and up year after year. Even though discount rates also keep climbing so the net price isn’t always going up in the same way, the appearance of unaffordability gets more intense every year. Along with that is concern about student debt.”

Dr. Davida L. HaywoodSixty percent of the parents surveyed were concerned about college cost, 40% about scholarships and 39% about the amount of debt. The parents surveyed came from EAB’s database. The company does marketing on behalf of colleges and universities and engages with families around the country. The children of these parents had engaged in one or more college search behaviors involving four-year institutions.

“Parents and caretakers are always concerned about educational costs, degree competition and job placement, and if a safe and healthy campus environment is provided for their students,” said Dr. Davida L. Haywood, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU).

Problems related to the rollout of the new FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) impacted the responses of parents. Fifty-two percent of families reported problems submitting the FAFSA. Families also reported delays in receiving their aid packages, with 49% of parents reporting they did not receive the student aid award in time to make a decision. Not understanding cost is a major source of anxiety and there is a rising aversion to debt.

EAB 2024 Parent SurveyEAB 2024 Parent SurveyHaywood said JCSU has found it necessary to re-educate parents and caretakers about the financial aid process, including explaining new definitions and types of aid. “We were able to accomplish this through educational sessions at open houses, parent and family weekend, the use of a new JCSU-specific parent and family communication web portal, Golden Bull academics (JCSU’s student orientation) and webinars,” she said.

This emphasizes a key recommendation from the paper, which is to build robust parent communication. Koppenheffer added that being mindful of language needs is beneficial.