Nevada college enrollment: An exploration of community influences on high school seniors' decisions

This ethnographic qualitative case study explored and attempted to explain influences the characteristics of a community and parental education had on high school students' decisions to apply or not to apply to a university or four-year college. The study analyzed the influence of community characteristics on high school seniors' college application decisions in Las Vegas, Nevada. The research was designed to develop and explore themes of possible reasons Nevada was ranked last in the U.S. in the number of high school graduates who attend college. Nationwide, college enrollment rates are also lower for high school students whose parents do not hold a college degree than for high school students whose parents have completed a college degree. Using written surveys and follow-up telephone interviews, seniors at one Las Vegas, Nevada high school were interviewed to determine if and how the characteristics of the Las Vegas community influenced their decision to apply for college. Three themes emerged from the research results: (a) students' internal motivations, (b) parental education levels, (c) and community characteristics. Findings revealed that a majority of the students in the study who had applied to a university or four-year college indicated a desire to go to college from an early age. High school seniors who had made their decision to go to college prior to their senior year were influenced less by the characteristics of the Las Vegas community than high school seniors who had not made a decision to apply to college prior to their senior year.