DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS CHOICE TO HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

Paucity of funds has been a major cause of incessant strikes in higher
education institutions however a germane source of generating revenue
internally is through increased enrolment. Higher Education Institutions
should enhance their ability to attract prospective students considering
there are other counterparts in competitive admission markets.
Descriptive survey design was adopted for this study and simple random
sampling technique was used to select 45 First year students each from
five different Colleges in Tai Solarin University of Education in Ijagun,
Ogun State. The instrument used for study, was a questionnaire titled
“Factors Influencing Student Choice of Tertiary Institution” designed to
collect data from a total of 225 students. Pearson Product Moment
Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the relationships among
independent variables: cost of tuition, availability of courses, availability
of facilities, institutional marketing strategies and dependent variable
Student choice decision of tertiary institution. The findings revealed a
positive relationship between independent and dependent variables
except for institutional marketing strategy that did not have significant
effect on students’ decision choice. It was recommended that school
facilities should be expanded and modified, also school administrators
should liaise with philanthropists for financial assistance to assist poor
students in order to increase enrolment