UNITED STATES

Cost a growing factor in college decisions - Survey

A new survey of America's college freshmen has found that the percentage attending their first-choice institution has reached its lowest level in almost four decades, as cost and the availability of financial aid have come to play an influential role in decisions of where to enrol, reports Associated Press.

The annual survey released recently, conducted by University of California, Los Angeles' Higher Education Research Institute, found that while more than three-quarters of those who started college last autumn were admitted to the institution they most wanted to attend, only 57% ended up going there. That was the lowest rate in the 39 years that the institute has asked first-time freshmen if they had enrolled at their dream college.
Full report on the Washington Post site