Factors influencing where kids are going to college?

Factors influencing where kids are going to college?

 

Preparations for high school graduations are underway all over Rhode Island as seniors finish their last days of secondary school. Many will spend the summer anxiously awaiting their send off to college, with many leaving the state and others staying closer to home. Excited, and maybe a bit frightened, stepping out of the cap and gown and into a dorm room or a college lecture hall is a big step for students leaving the safe confines of public and private high schools in Rhode Island.

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State schools, private schools, large universities and small colleges are among the choices that college seniors in Rhode Island have made this year. Some chose a school based on economics, while others earned a full scholarship to schools such as Brown University, Northwestern, Cornell and Providence College.

A recent report from the Labor Department indicates that more high school graduates are making the most of scholarships and other forms of financial aid so they can go to college. The statistics show a historical high with 70.1% of the 2.9 million new graduates choosing to go to college.

 

Why the increase?

The poor economy has created a tough labor market for young, uneducated workers across the nation. Going to college will give these high school graduates the edge when it comes to landing a job after college graduation.

So, whether the choice of a college for high school seniors was based on tuition or location, the college selections made by students in Rhode Island schools are impressive. Schools across the state responded enthusiastically when asked where their students were headed in the fall.

Tiverton High School guidance counselor, Cathy Winston, spoke highly not just of the top ranking students in the school, but of all the students who worked hard to earn academic funds and scholarships. From their amazing senior projects to the full scholarships that students earned, Winston gave kudos to the senior class for working diligently to earn acceptances to colleges and universities across the nation.