The Relationships among Individual Characteristics, High School Characteristics, and College Enrollment: Using Enrollment Propensity as a Baseline for Evaluating Strategic Enrollment Management Efforts

The current study examined the relationships among student and high school characteristics and the decision to enroll in either a two- or four-year college or university. The purpose of the research was to assess the feasibility of using enrollment propensity (i.e., the likelihood of enrolling in college) as a baseline to evaluate the effectiveness of college recruitment strategies and programs. An analysis of data from nearly 60,000 Indiana high school graduates in spring 2010 revealed that both student characteristics and the characteristics of sending high schools were related to the likelihood of enrolling in college, and these characteristics could be used to create baseline enrollment measures. Different student and high school characteristics were related to enrolling in two- and four-year institutions.