How Does Media Coverage Of Campus Scandals Affect College Applications Of Schools?

Every year, the media covers campus scandals. This year has so far headlined campus controversies such as Stanford University's Brock Turner, Baylor University and University of Tennessee's handling of sexual assault cases, etc. When a soon-to-be college applicant reads this news, how would it affect his/her choices of colleges to apply for?

The Huffington Post reported a working study from Harvard Business School says that an educational institution, after facing controversy, would lose student applicants based on the extent the media reached to cover the issue. If the scandal is detailed in a magazine specifically The New York Times, expect a massive decline in college applications .

The paper's authors, Michael Luca and Patrick Rooney, analyzed the reports The New York Times did to cover campus issues. If the school's scandal was mentioned in the said publication for at least five times, the school's college applications dropped by 9 percent the next year. If it is covered in an in-depth article by any magazine, the school received a 10 percent drop in applications (via The Huffington Post).

The authors wanted to determine whether the drop in college applications for a certain school was driven by the scandal itself or by the media coverage. To do this, they looked at the schools that were scandalized but the issues were not reported by The New York Times or other magazines (via The Huffington Post).

The Huffington Post sets the mishandling of sexual assault cases of the University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley in 2013 and 2014 as examples. These weren't covered by The New York Times or was reported on any lengthy magazine article that the said schools received an increasing number of applications from 2013 to 2015.

The study did not look at the impact of social media especially that in 2013, more people were into Facebook and Twitter than in 2001 when these sites did not even exist yet. A separate study should be dedicated for that; ultimately, this study notes that media coverage helps in making sure that implementation of school policies are in compliance with the law.

As per Bloomberg, the reasons why college applications for select universities drop are high tuition fees coupled with rising student debt, lower job prospects and competition from online programs. Liberal art schools are affected the most because students opt for more practical courses such as coding wherein they are more likely to land a stable job after college.

According to Money Crashers, when choosing a college to apply for, the student has to consider a host of factors. First, students must know their capabilities based on their ACT and SAT scores and whether or not they would qualify to a college of their choice. After narrowing down the schools, the students must assess the university's graduation rate, freshmen retention rate, student to faculty ratio, credibility of professors, accreditation, and available financial aid among others.

If you're considering colleges to apply for now, watch the video below and educate yourself on the factors you have to look at in choosing the perfect college for you. Shoot down your thoughts on the Comments section below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.