Academic content and cost-related information remain the most important kinds of information students seek on college web sites. When StudentPoll surveyed prospective college students in 2000 (the first time we asked this question), 60 percent rated academic content — information on courses and majors and academic programs — as very important in their college decisions. This holds true today. In our latest study, 69 percent of those who indicated they had visited college web sites reported that information on courses or majors and academic programs (69 and 62 percent respectively) were very important to them.

In the current study, a slightly higher proportion of students rated information that provides a breakdown of such costs as tuition and fees as very important (67 percent) compared to information on academic programs (62 percent). In our previous study, information on courses, and majors, and academic programs were the top two mentions among students in terms of the importance they gave this information on college web sites.

Perhaps it's a sign of tougher economic times that a higher proportion of students rated financial aid information very important compared to the findings from our study in 2000. Another finding supports this assumption: in our current study, 56 percent of students rated the financial aid application as very important and 49 percent gave the same rating to the online estimator of financial aid. In 2000, those numbers were 41 percent and 31 percent respectively.

Of least importance to students is information on faculty, a finding consistent with our last study. This time around only 15 percent of students rated faculty information as very important to them compared to 11 percent in 2000. It is also worth noting that an online application on a college's web site is information rated of high importance to 36 percent of students using college web sites compared to 21 percent of students who rated this very important in 2000.