In this installment, we'll focus on movement in our Top 20 Must Have and Would Be Nice cards.
About the Shifting Priorities Series
At Corsava, we help students discover, embrace, and communicate their emotional preferences in a gamified way as they explore 138 aspects of the college experience across six broader categories. Since September 1, 2019, we’ve collected over 1.7 million Corsava student college attribute preferences. This series explores how those preferences have changed over the course of time.
Categories:
All Top 5 card groupings presented in this article are listed in descending order and are color-coded to identify their associated category.
Helping students explore their college options has taught me many things, but chief among them is the importance of expanding students’ focus to include aspects of college not on their radar (but vital to their success). As students face online high school courses, dynamic testing requirements, and virtual-only campus tours, taking time to address their changing needs and priorities is critical. If we know how both individual and generational trends impact their choices, we can all do a better job supporting them. I would like to share some insights into these trends based on the preferences students have selected, both pre-lockdown and post-lockdown. Some might surprise you!
June 2019: Top 5 Must Have cards
We hear that more and more students might be thinking about staying close to home; however, as these NICHE survey results show, this is not necessarily the case. Similarly, our preference data shows an increase in Far from Home as a Must Have for students. They want to be on campus and are willing to travel for a better fit. We also saw a shift in the preference for a Residential Campus, which broke into the Top Ten Must Have cards post-lockdown. Historically, it has hovered just outside the Top 10, ranking 12th. As I hear from my students, the bump may be driven by the fact that they crave independence and a shift from studying from home. With a community of students who will be there seven days a week, these relationship-based preferences are a significant driver right now. Weekend Life also saw an increase in the Would Be Nice category, further underscoring students’ appreciation for campus life and community.
Post-lockdown: Top 5 Must Have cards
More campus-related preferences changed, with prior top cards like Great Food and Great Dorms falling in importance. Hopefully, students are starting to focus on more meaningful aspects of their college education. Access to Professors, though still in the Top 5 Must Haves, also saw a decrease in priority, while Academic Advising dropped out of the Top 20 Would Be Nice choices. Could it be that students are making do without this access now and don’t see it as critical to their college experience?
While I would have assumed that School Spirit was something students would crave as they considered their college options, this preference took one of the top four most significant drops. This may be because students are doing without it now at school, and it is not top of their minds with so many athletic programs on hold nationwide.
Must Have cards demonstrating the most change from pre-lockdown to post-lockdown
Interestingly, Academic Support & Tutoring, Structured Program, and Scholarly Environment all moved up into the Top 20 Would Be Nice cards for the first time. Perhaps a function of students working online now with less immediate access to the classroom’s structure and support. Modern Facilities & Technology shifted into the Top 20 Would Be Nice choices for the first time. From what I hear from my students and what we see in our data, students know the importance of more seamless tools to help with online education as they pivoted from the classroom themselves. They will be looking to colleges to accelerate the change to better online learning and support, with higher expectations.
Would Be Nice cards demonstrating the most change from pre-lockdown to post-lockdown
Perhaps a function of the lack of motivation we hear about from our students at this point, and burnout with online learning increasing, we see Free Time climbing into the Top 20 Would Be Nice preferences. No surprise there; most adults would agree. Interestingly, Lots of Class Choices was not in the Top 20 in June 2019, but is now hovering just outside the Top 10 Must Have preferences for students. With so many online courses now being offered, and the publicity related to them, students see the benefit of a large basket of class choices as they head to college. The trend with companies like Coursera offering hundreds of courses for credit through universities will continue to grow, side-by-side with student expectations about choice.
#CorsavaInsights #CorsavaTrends
Header Photo by Damon Hall on Unsplash