Book Description

A very large and important subgroup of student-athletes is ethnic minority in Title I high schools. Understanding the decision-making process of this subgroup is important to the high schools that prepare these students to enter college and to the colleges that recruit them. The college choice factors of 207 student-athletes at three Title I high schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida, were investigated. Independent variables were socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity, graduation year, high school, gender, and grade point average. Dependent variables were eleven choice factors: cost of college, scholarship offer, reputation of college, reputation of coach, distance from home, athletic recruitment, opportunity to play early, influence of coaches, influence of counselors, influence of friends, and influence of family. Results showed that the most important factors in the students' choice of colleges were scholarship offer and cost of college, followed by the reputation of the college. There was a significant effect of SES on college choice factors; lower SES students reported that influence of counselor, reputation of the college, and distance from home were more important than higher SES students reported them to be. These findings have implications for both colleges and high schools. It suggests to colleges how to recruit student-athletes from Title I high schools--offer financial aid and highlight the reputation of the college. It suggests to high schools the need for a more focused effort to expose economically disadvantaged student-athletes to more information about colleges that offer athletics and financial aid in or near Miami-Dade County, Florida.