Beyond price and grades: How safety, politics, and social media now influence college decision-making in America

For decades, the calculus for selecting a college in the United States has appeared simple: Compare the quality of the education to the cost, and select the school that provided the best combination of prestige and affordability. Now that formula has been made more complicated by a host of additional factors, including politics, campus safety, and even TikTok.

Based on the 14th annual survey of Spark451, a Jenzabar company that focuses on enrollment management, the landscape of higher education decision-making is changing in real time. The 2025 report, drawing on feedback from over 1,800 graduating high school seniors and 1,400 parents, indicates that academic rigor and affordability continue to be the foundation of preference but that families are now examining institutions with a wider and, sometimes, more contentious framework. This is what the report indicates:

The lasting pillars: Quality and cost

Not surprisingly, quality of academics ranked first, followed by cost and scholarship availability. However, cost’s primacy has a caveat: A revealing 59% of parents acknowledged that the college their child ended up attending wasn’t the most affordable one. The fact speaks to how families are more and more willing to pay a premium for perceived quality, safety, and institutional commitment to their values.

The politics of campus gates

One of the most surprising changes disclosed by the survey is the politicization of the college selection process. Almost three-quarters of students (74%) responded that a university’s political leanings affected their choice to attend, and an even higher percentage of parents, 78%, reported the same. In addition, 70% of parents mentioned a state government’s political climate as a determining factor in whether or not they felt it was safe to send their child to study there.

In an age when college campuses are hotbeds of controversies surrounding free speech, diversity, and control, this information indicates that universities are no longer apolitical havens of education in the public psyche. They are seen as political ecosystems that influence not just career but also character and identity.

Safety trumps sports

The survey brings a sobering message to college officials still counting on athletics as a recruitment tool. Intercolligate athletics placed 15th of 17 factors, well behind campus security, which has increased heightened prominence amid national alarm concerning gun violence and psychiatric crises on campuses.

Academic quality, price, and value continue to be priorities for parents and students alike, but this year’s results indicate increasing sensitivity to considerations such as campus safety, political climate, and values,” said Michael McGetrick, Vice President of Creative and Interactive Services for Spark451, in a press release.

An arms race in applications

If this year’s students are apprehensive, they are also prolific. A record number of more than half applied to 10 or more schools, from 45% in 2024 and 39% in 2023. The Common Application remains the champion, with over 80% of students opting for it as their application platform.

Application fee waivers were the tipping point for most: 65% of students applied to more institutions than they had originally planned on after being offered waivers. But for parents, such incentives barely registered: 63% reported that fee waivers did not influence their child’s application plans.

Direct admissions: Intrigue without conversion

Direct admits—when colleges provide room without a full application—has been touted as a democratizer of access. The poll indicates 32% of students applied to at least one college through such a program, but only 41% actually enrolled in the institution that directly admitted them. The system piques interest but has yet to be a determining enrollment force. Parents are still interested, though: 78% indicated they preferred such arrangements, up from 73% last year.

The virtual battlefield: TikTok, AI, and the influence of a written letter

If safety and politics mark the emotional landscape of college selection, technology marks its pragmatic one. A staggering 93% of students utilized social media to seek information on schools, with Instagram (70%), YouTube (52%), and TikTok (49%) emerging as the most popular. Almost one in every three used AI tools like ChatGPT, with 62% of those using AI for admissions questions and affordability issues. Parents are less digital, however—only 4% said they used AI in searching for college.

Nevertheless, in the midst of digital saturation, the survey provides a near-paradoxical note: email (97%) and even direct mail (64%) still top students’ lists for preferred modes of college communication. For a generation that is daily immersing itself in notifications, there is still something to the physical heft of a letter or a one-to-one email.

A new calculus for colleges

The Spark451 survey finally presents students and families as pragmatists increasingly operating in ideological mode, digitally adept but old-fashioned, price-sensitive but value-aligned and paying to be so.

The age-old question of “Which college is best?” no longer has one answer. It now hinges as much on the statehouse as on the classroom, as much on a school’s position on social issues as on its academic standings.