Motivations for Attending College Among Butler Students

Indianapolis, IN

An increasing numbers of students in the U.S are applying to and enrolling in colleges and universities. New questions emerge about why they attend. In this study, I used in-depth qualitative interviews with first and second year college students at a small private liberal arts school, in order to examine their motivations for attending college. For most students, the primary motivation for attending college is future career plans. Further analysis of gender and socioeconomic status reveals that students of a lower socioeconomic status are more motivated by their future career plans than students of a higher socioeconomic status, while women were more likely to be motivated by external pressures, like family, school and peers, than men.