BRAND CONSCIOUSNESS AND COLLEGE DEBT: DOES STUDENT ATTENDANCE LOCATION MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Abstract

A record number of college students are incurring debt to support their attendance in postsecondary education.  Much of this debt, however, may be used to finance the enrollment in institutions that have a ‘brand’ name, rather than the low-cost local providers.  Aside from any discussion of institutional quality or perceived quality, two samples of institutions were selected for the current study.  ‘Brand’ name institutions typically enrolled higher numbers of out-of-state students and lower numbers of Pell-grant eligible students than those institutions that focused on providing regional postsecondary opportunities.  Findings suggest that regional institutions do indeed serve a different population, that is, those students who struggle to afford higher education opportunities, while nationally ‘branded’ institution enroll students who voluntarily incur debt with the knowledge that they want to enroll in a more nationally branded institution.