May 1st is a momentous day for seniors who are planning on attending a post secondary education of some kind. Multiple factors go into deciding where to attend next year so students can achieve a college degree.

The Skyline College and Career center has made multiple links from reliable websites, infographics, and other helpful resources so skyline students can get the support they need to help them figure out their college decision. According to them, there are five big questions that students must ask themselves. Where, how many, what, how much, why?

Students must take into consideration location, size of the school, what they want to study, cost, and why they want to attend that school.   

In general, tuition and finance plays an important role in college decisions for seniors; since out of state or private institutions’ tuition is costlier than in-state tuition. Maya Kundu, a senior at Skyline, recently committed to California Polytechnic State University. 

“I wanted to go to a good public school, as cost is usually less even for out of state students.” Said Kundu.

Most seniors choose their university based on the overall rating of their degree. Kundu mentioned her most important factor when talking about the different options that her University provides.

“The most important factor was the overall quality of the programs,” said Kundu. “If I wanted to change majors, the school would still have many other high ranking programs.”

Location is a major factor for seniors as well, because of traveling. Some people want to go out of state and get that independence that most people at the age of 18 crave. Kundu expressed her excitement to go somewhere different then Washington.

“Location kind of ties around, but the area was an important factor to consider,” said Kundu. “I knew I wanted to go somewhere warm and consistently sunny which is why I was more motivated to apply to places in California and Arizona.”

Universities all over Washington are highly established which is why other students want to stay closer to home. Saya Betzler is freshly committed to Gonzaga University as of last month. 

“It’s the perfect distance from home where I can visit my family for the weekend,” said Betzler. “But I will still have enough space to become independent.”

Seniors usually talk to other people that have had experiences in the University they are interested in, that way they can see if it’s the best fit for them. They also talk to friends or family members that have knowledge about the specific university and overall the location.

Seniors are on their way to plan where they will be after high school is over, and after May 1st everything will be finalized and moving quickly.