College Choice Factors for Division

I Athletes at an Urban University

By: Group 1
INTRODUCTION

A sizable proportion of colleges and universities within the United States support athletic
opportunities for their respective student bodies. Urban serving institutions of higher
education tend to have constrained financial resources, mirroring the social inequities of
urban public schools. Sport programs increase student enrollment and revenue generating
opportunities. Another potential expense to colleges or universities is the process of
bringing those student athletes to campus, which can be a costly venture.

In this article, they examine how student athletes view their identities, academic careers,
and the factors influencing them to attend specific institutions of higher education. Athletic
departments within these institution scan benefit greatly from understanding how to
efficiently recruit potential student athletes. Further research can help both practitioners and
academics in understanding the identities of student-athletes by illustrating what is
important to them during the recruiting process.
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INTRODUCTION

Vermillion (2010) noted the usefulness of amalgamating social theory with other education
theories in order to develop a holistic, interdisciplinary framework for discussing college
choice factors with student athletes. The purpose of this project is to identify what college or
university factors influence Division I student athletes to attend their present urban-serving
schools. To accurately ground this project within the previous literature, a brief background
discussion of factors affecting the general student body and student athletes is discussed.
Kankey and Quarterman(2007) noted the increase of research regarding college or
university choice factors as related to student athletes. Key factors include academic
reputation of institution, friendship influences, proximity to family, financial aid availability,
the location of the institution, and program availability. There has been little to no
exploration of college choice factors of student athletes in one athletic department with
respondent representation of all athletic programs.

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METHODOLOGY
PARTICIPANTS

Respondents for the study were selected from the student athlete population of a large, state university located
in the southern high plains of the United States. The university is designated as an urban-serving university
and is embedded in an urban environment within a predominantly rural state. It is important to note the
university is designated as a Division I by the NCAA. This is the label given to Division I athletic departments
that do not fund or field football teams. As a result, the potential survey population is slightly smaller as
compared to FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) or FCS (Football Championship Series) athletic departments,
formerly known as Division I A and Division I AA respectively.

Surveys were administered as online surveys and once surveys were completed, responses were
automatically entered into a spreadsheet, which was imported and developed in an electronic database.
Surveys with missing (skipped) questions or ambiguous answers were discarded and not included in the
database. While not all student athletes responded fully, there was representation of all athletic programs
administered by the athletic department at the time of data collection. After data collection a total of 101 usable
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surveys were included in the analysis.
METHODOLOGY
In order to determine the demographics of the respondents, basic questions were asked to determine
gender, academic status (freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior), country of origin, race or ethnicity
and sport they participated in. The resulting sample included more females than males (65% vs. 35%)
and was composed of freshmen (23.2%), sophomores (30.3%), juniors (29.3%), and seniors(17.2%).
Finally, table 1 illustrates the percent of respondents based upon sport. the usefulness of
amalgamating social theory with other education theories in order to develop a holistic,
interdisciplinary framework for discussing college choice factors with student athletes. The
purpose of this project is to identify what college or university factors influence Division I
student athletes to attend their present urban-serving schools. To accurately ground this
project within the previous literature, a brief background discussion of factors affecting the
general student body and student athletes is discussed.
• Kankey and Quarterman(2007) noted the increase of research regarding college or
university choice factors as related to student athletes. Key factors include academic
reputation of institution, friendship influences, proximity to family, financial aid availability,
the location of the institution, and program availability. There has been little to no
exploration of college choice factors of student athletes in one athletic department with 5

respondent representation of all athletic programs.

METHODOLOGY
MEASURE

The data collection survey consisted of the aforementioned five demographic questions and college
choice factors used by Kankey and Quarterman (2007). Permission was obtained by the primary
researcher to use the Kankey and Quarterman factor list for additional research and was adapted to
this research focusing on Division I student athletes. The possible answer choices regarding the
importance of the college choice factors included “extremely important,” “very important,” “moderately
important,” “slightly important,” and “unimportant,” which were numerically coded with “extremely
important” rating a five (5) while “unimportant” was rated as one (1). As a result, the higher the rating,
the more important the college choice factor was to the student athlete.stic, interdisciplinary
framework for discussing college choice factors with student athletes. The purpose of this
project is to identify what college or university factors influence Division I student athletes to
attend their present urban-serving schools. To accurately ground this project within the
previous literature, a brief background discussion of factors affecting the general student
body and student athletes is discussed.
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• Kankey and Quarterman(2007) noted the increase of research regarding college or

METHODOLOGY
PROCEDURE

Student athletes were asked by their coaches or athletic program administrators to complete the
online survey. Additional follow-up contacts were made to specific programs to ensure that there was
student athlete representation from all sponsored sports in the athletic department. Informed consent
was done electronically with the disclaimer attached to the electronic version of the survey. Student
athlete participation was not mandatory, but it was encouraged. All results are not simply confidential,
but also anonymous because a detailed respondent record cannot be tracked or charted in the current
electronic database. Surveys were taken by student athletes while coaches and staff were not present
to avoid any influence or tainting of respondent self-reports. The gathered statistical information was
shared with the athletic department in addition to being used for this research. Electronic survey
information was imported and saved in a spreadsheet for data analysis. of this project is to identify
what college or university factors influence Division I student athletes to attend their present
urban-serving schools. To accurately ground this project within the previous literature, a
brief background discussion of factors affecting the general student body and student
athletes is discussed. 7
RESULT
According to Kankey and Quarterman (2007), a descriptive analysis is utilized to characterize and
identify the college selection determinants associated with Division I athletes attending urban-serving
universities. In answer to the research question (what variables are most important to Division I
student athletes when selecting to attend their current school? ), initial univariate results show that 87
percent of the factors given in this study were at or above the middle of the scale (M= 3.00).
Furthermore, nearly half of the characteristics (15 out of 32, or about 47 percent) had means greater
than 4.00, with over 70 percent of respondents evaluating these criteria as 'very' or' very significant' to
their decision to attend this urban-serving university. Coaching staff (M=4.68, SD=0.66); amount of
financial aid or scholarship offered (M=4.47, SD=078); support services offered to student athletes
(e.g. study hall, tutors, etc...) (M=4.44, SD= 0.74); availability of resources (money, equipment, etc...)
(M=4.31, SD=0.75); opportunity to win conference or national championship (M=4.27, SD=0.83);
availability of major (M=4.25, SD=0.94); Table 2 shows the results.

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RESULT
Mean, Standard Deviation,
and Percent (%) of Factor
Choices Influencing Division
I Student Athletes to attend
their Urban-serving
Institution(n=101).

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DISCUSSION
The purpose of this research was to identify the college choice factors most important to Division I
athletes attending urban-serving institutions. Table 2 highlights the factors that were most readily
identified by these student athletes as impactful. As reported by student athletes, there are many factors
that go into the choice to attend this particular urban-serving institution.

Athletic-related reasons, such as opportunity to win a conference or national championships or the

availability of resources, are still factors influencing the student athletes in this sample. Regarding this
sample, non-athletic factors appear important, as well. For example, financial reasons (e.g. financial
aid/scholarships) and preparation for a professional career after sports (e.g. availability of major, support
services offered to student athletes, and career opportunities after graduation) all had mean scores
above 4.00, with almost 80% of respondents listing these non-athletic factors as ‘extremely’ or ‘very
important’ in relationship to their decision to attend their urban-serving university.

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CONCLUSION

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