A new study by EAB, an enrollment management consulting firm, found that parents and guardians who help their students make college decisions are most concerned about cost and debt.

Based on a survey of more than 1,600 parents, guardians and other primary caregivers, the report offers insight into how their priorities and fears have changed in recent years and the increasingly dominant role college affordability plays in their considerations. Sixty percent of respondents said cost was their biggest concern when sending their children to college, and the next two most common responses also related to cost: 40 percent cited scholarships as their top priority and 39 percent cited debt.

Michael Koppenheffer, vice president of marketing and analytics at EAB and co-author of the report, said the findings show that colleges have plenty of room for improvement in engaging parents — not just in the context of the chaos of this year’s free federal student aid application process, but also in the context of a more traditional student aid cycle.

“Most institutions make little effort to communicate with prospective parents about anything, let alone affordability,” he said. “This is the best way to dispel myths about skyrocketing tuition and help families understand and manage the true net cost of college.”

Parents from all socioeconomic backgrounds value being informed by prospective colleges about college financial viability, but this is especially true for low-income families. While 44 percent of parents from families with annual incomes of less than $90,000 and 42 percent of parents from families with annual incomes of less than $150,000 said they would appreciate being informed earlier about college financing, only 31 percent of parents with annual household incomes of more than $150,000 said the same.

The importance of timely and clear communication about financial aid, scholarship opportunities and other affordability measures was highlighted by the botched rollout of the new FAFSA application this year. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they had trouble submitting the FAFSA application with their child, and 49 percent said they did not receive their student’s financial aid package in time to make an informed decision about college.

Bob Massa, former vice president of enrollment at Dickinson College and co-founder of the consulting firm Enrollment Intelligence Now, said the report highlights the challenges colleges face in communicating with families who are increasingly skeptical about investing in their children’s higher education – and are often poorly informed about the true cost of a college degree.

“Colleges need to do a much better job of communicating to families that the list price is not the net price and that there are ways to make college not only manageable but affordable,” he said. “That’s easier said than done … but colleges have often shied away from discussing this directly with individual families, and I think that’s a mistake.”

Parents also tend to think of “manageable” and “affordable” as synonyms: 48 percent said a “manageable” price tag means not taking on any debt, and 60 percent said it could mean taking on a little debt. Forty-one percent of parents said the ability to earn a degree without taking on debt was the most important factor in determining its value.

“Concerns about debt are not new, but they have been more pronounced and intense this year than in previous polls,” Koppenheffer said, attributing this in part to the increased attention politicians and the media are paying to student debt as the Biden administration struggles to implement an ambitious debt relief plan.

The students’ concerns are the same

The survey also found that most parents are wrong about their students’ biggest concerns about college. Respondents thought students would be most concerned about career success and whether college is right for them. In fact, EAB data shows that students’ concerns are exactly the same as parents’: cost, debt and scholarships.

After cost, primary caregivers’ next most common concerns revolve around students’ mental health, sense of belonging and academic success. Only 17 percent said they were concerned about whether their child would get into a “first-choice school,” and 16 percent cited students’ career prospects after graduation.

Massa expressed surprise and dismay at the wide gap between parents’ concerns about costs – which often fall on their shoulders – and educational outcomes.

“I’m a little discouraged by what this report seems to show,” he said. “(Employment prospects) should be at the top of the list. Instead of ‘What’s in it for my children?’ it’s ‘What’s it going to cost me?'”

Koppenheffer said this year’s report also showed that student safety is far less important to parents weighing their children’s college options than in previous years. But of the 32 percent who cited it as a top concern, nearly half said they were more concerned about students’ mental health and emotional well-being than their physical safety.

“It’s a pretty tangible reminder that when families and students evaluate colleges, one of the things they’re looking for is mental health and well-being support,” he said. “That’s very different than it was a few years ago.”