College Deciding Factors are Timeless

The ultimate deciding factors when applying for the perfect college are timeless. Office Manager for the Quill and Scroll Organization, Judy Hauge sees similarities between how she decided which university to apply to almost thirty years ago and how her own children and other current students decided to apply to the colleges they ultimately chose to attend as well. Predominantly, money was the most influential factor for Hauge when she applied to college. Considering Hauge paid for college herself, she decided that attending college in the state she grew up in, Iowa, would be the best option in her circumstances.

From working at the School of Journalism at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Hauge is constantly around college or future college students. From her experiences with students in her workplace and her own family, Hauge believes factors such as the cost of tuition, location, and the students’ desired major are crucial deciding factors.

“I’ve seen for a lot of students the cost of tuition is a large factor, because when you go out of state it is typically a lot more expensive than it is to go in state institution. I would think another big factor is what you’re gonna major in. Many incoming freshman have an idea of what they wanna do, but they aren’t exactly sure, however, say for example if a student wants to major in engineering, they would want to go to the best engineering school he or she can get into,” said Hauge.

Hauge’s children possessed priorities similar to those of Hauge’s when picking the right college to attend. Both of Hauge’s children attended college in Iowa. Her son attended Iowa State University for agronomy, and her daughter major in finance at the University of Iowa.

Hauge said, “My daughter knew she wanted to do something in business, and initially she wanted to go out of state, but the cost for her was a factor since she did not want to have to go into debt to that extreme so she decided attending an in state university would be best for her.”

Hauge expressed the value of essential deciding factors all students contemplate when applying to college, regardless of the decade.