Trust in the System: College Choice and Tension Between Institutional Logics and Student Decision Making

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: College Access and Minoritized Populations

Abstract

Building on theories of student decisionmaking, this study expands our knowledge of how students evaluate risks and develop preferences for postsecondary. This paper is a longitudinal interview study with Michigan high school seniors. I explore the ways students evaluate college risks informing their postsecondary preferences, finding that many students rely on information from siblings’ experiences to understand the risks and navigate the college choice. The way students use this information depends on how they see themselves in reference to their siblings, how personalized the information is, and what other information they have available. Understanding student preferences and the information students trust and rely on to inform their student experiences can help us better target interventions to support student needs.

Author

• Elizabeth Burland, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor