Majority of high schoolers take politics into account when choosing where to go to college, new survey shows

A recent study revealed that a majority of high schoolers consider a college’s political climate when considering their options for higher education. 

A study published by the consulting firm Echo Delta shows that roughly 75 percent of high school students take a college’s politics into consideration when they make their choice of college to enroll in, alongside other considerations.

According to the survey results, roughly 50 percent of high school students are politically moderate, 29.4 percent are liberal, and 20.3 percent are conservative. Echo Delta concludes that Gen Z teens are “significantly more centrist in their political affiliation than Gen Z adults.” 

The firm also found that “liberal students are significantly more likely than conservative and moderate students to be highly politically active.”

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A “strong majority” of 78 percent of students who are “highly politically active” believe that a college’s “political climate somewhat or very much affects its learning environment.”

The top three political issues for students who considered political climate are racial equity, healthcare, and freedom of speech, all of which were marked by more than half of students surveyed as important issues. Liberal students are also more sensitive “to a wide range of issues compared to their moderate and conservative peers.”

Although students across the political divide all expressed at least some concern about going to a college that espouses differing political views, the study found that “concerns about attending college in a state that differs from students’ political views are more of a concern for wealthy, white, liberal students.”

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Echo Delta revealed that “Liberal students have concerns about going to Southern states; conservatives are concerned about going to California and New York.” More specifically, liberals were the most worried about going to college in “Texas, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and South Carolina.”

When researching the political climate of the home states of each college, 52 percent of students said their research comes from social media, 43 percent from friends and family, and 28 percent from news outlets. 

Regarding free speech, almost 80 percent of those surveyed “believe it’s important for all voices to be heard even if they offend others,” an opinion shared strongly among conservatives, liberals, and moderates.

Jarrett Smith, Echo Delta’s Senior Vice President of Strategy, told Campus Reform: “Our research shows just how far politics has infiltrated into virtually every aspect of American life. Twenty years ago, state and campus politics weren’t an important factor for most students when it came to choosing a college. That’s all changed. For many students, political climate is just as important as other factors like reputation and student life. For some, it’s a make or break factor in where they’ll attend.”

”At the same time, some of our results were encouraging. For instance, we find the majority of college-bound high school students support free speech, regardless of their political affiliation. And, despite the campus protests making headlines, most of those students prefer colleges and universities to remain neutral on political issues,” he concluded. 

Campus Reform has contacted the Echo Delta for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.