Published by Chron
The highest percentage of soon-to-be college students are opting out of attending Texas colleges and universities due to the Lone Star state’s politics, according to a new study.
This month, a survey released by the Art & Science Group, a Baltimore-based consulting and research firm, found that 28 percent of college-bound students took a college or university off their list “solely due to politics, policies or legal situations in the state where the school was located.”
Of those who ruled out a school for these reasons, 31 percent — the most out of the other states reported — indicated they opted not to seek higher education in Texas. Other states that trailed behind Texas included Alabama, California, Florida and New York.
The survey found trends on particular issues when associated with certain political affiliations. Of the students surveyed who identified as liberal, 75 percent avoided colleges and universities they saw as too far to the right on abortion rights or LGBTQ+ issues. Conversely, 66 percent of conservative students opted out of attending schools they described as too liberal on LGBTQ+ issues or too lenient on crime.
Most surveyed could find common ground regarding colleges and universities supporting free speech, student activists, and protests. Despite the poll's findings, enrollment numbers do not appear to have been significantly impacted by this trend.
Texas is home to many highly regarded and well-established higher education institutions. Most notably, Rice University broke into the top 10 on Forbes' 2024-2024 list of America’s top colleges for the first time this year.
The private university located in Houston ranked ninth on the list. Several others took lower-level rankings but made the top 100. The University of Texas at Austin came out 46th, Texas A&M University in College Station was 70th, Trinity University in San Antonio ranked 95th and Southern Methodist University in Dallas was the last at 99th.
According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, as of July 2024, 695,702 students were enrolled in a two-year public higher education program, and 535,293 were enrolled in a four-year college or university.