Mary Fitzgerald
Transitioning from high school to college is a significant step in a young adult’s life. When deciding on where to attend school, there are always the questions of how big a school do you want, does the school offer the field you want to study, would you rather attend a public school or a private school, how much are you willing to spend on your education, and how far away from home do you want to be? These are just a few factors that will help narrow down the options, but they are all important aspects to consider when looking at different colleges. During the 1970s, decreasing extra costs and increasing available resources played a significant role in shifting some of the factors influencing a student’s decision on which college to attend and resulting in students’ willingness to choose schools farther away from their homes. However some students ,like Mary Fitzgerald: Concordia College alum, did not closely consider these factors when choosing a college.
Money has always been a factor in where students choose to attend college. During the 1970s, the extra costs that came with attending college far away from home were long distance phone calls and long distance travel costs. Money spent on these things would quickly begin to add up, however, according to the work of Caroline Hoxby, “the cost of a 10 minute cross-country telephone call fell from $48.32 in 1960 to $25.91 in 1970 [to] $9.96 in 1980. Similarly, the costs of long-distance travel…fell from $42.65 in 1960 to $32.06 in 1970 [to] $28.91 in 1980.” (1) This decrease allowed many students to attend schools farther away from home also allowing them to become more independent individuals.
Another deciding factor for students was the availability of various resources. These resources were school related and included contacting admissions of the college or simply reading information in a brochure or online. Resources that are hard to access or obtain led certain students away, but as Hoxby noted, “it was much easier to become informed about colleges in the 1960s versus the 1950s; it was much easier again in the 1970s versus the 1960s” and so on. (2) Over time, the Internet also became more advanced and allowed the colleges to post information on the school’s website allowing students to access the information without actually visiting the campus. (3) This was a major achievement for both the students and the college. The students got more information just from their own computer instead of going to the college and discovering its not the right fit for them. The college also benefited from this achievement because it created a wider variety of students who were now becoming interested in schools farther away from their own home.
With these shifting factors there were still some students who did not fit in with the national trends. One student in particular is Mary Fitzgerald who graduated from Concordia College in 1977. Despite the decreasing costs and increasing resources, Mary “wanted to stay close to home.” (4) This is true for many Concordia students because, as documented in the college history, “Minnesotans in 1988 still comprised almost 64 percent [of the student body]; another 15 percent were North Dakotans, and almost 12 percent were Montana, South Dakota and Wisconsin natives.” (5) All of these states are neighboring or relatively close to Minnesota revealing that not only did certain students not fit in with the national trend, but also Concordia College did not fit in either. A possible explanation for this occurrence might be that a student’s religious affiliation remained important to them and Concordia offered what they were looking for, so there was no need to look elsewhere.
Overall, students searching for a college to attend during the 1970s were persuaded heavily by the many changing factors that encompass the decision of where to go to college. Although not all students were influenced by decreasing costs and increasing resources, these changing aspects ultimately led to an overall growth of students who attend college many miles from home.
Essay by Sarah Olson
(1) Caroline M. Hoxby, "The Changing Selectivity of American Colleges," Journal Of Economic Perspectives 23, no. 4 (Fall 2009): 102, accessed December 8, 2014.
(2) Hoxby, “The Changing Selectivity,” 103-104.
(3) Hoxby, “The Changing Selectivity,” 104.
(4) Mary Fitzgerald, interview by Emily Wendorff, October 11, 2013, transcript, 2.
(5) Carroll L. Engelhardt, On Firm Foundation Grounded (Moorhead: Concordia College, 1991), 308.