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An analysis of college choice factors that influence the decision of students to enroll in the Airway Science -Professional Pilot program at Kansas State University
Abstract
This study sought to contribute to an understanding of the factors influencing college choice of students entering university-affiliated flight programs. Specifically, the study investigated college characteristics, information types, sources of influence and recruitment programs and strategies to determine the level of importance and influence each construct had on the college choice process. ^ This study was conducted at the College of Technology and Aviation at Kansas State University during April 2003. A survey questionnaire was developed based on a review of the literature and administered to 147 students enrolled in the Airway-Science Professional Pilot program to determine what factors influenced a student's decision to enter the flight program. Survey data was analyzed using a variety of descriptive and inferential statistics to determine if differences existed among students by family income, gender, residency status and academic ability. ^ Twenty-eight univariate analysis of variance were conducted for each of the independent variables in the study. The dependent variables consisted of academic characteristics, financial considerations, flight program characteristics, fixed college characteristics, information sources, sources of influence and recruitment programs and strategies. There were no significant findings between any of the variables in the study. ^ Academic program characteristics and flight program characteristics were considered most important to the students in the sample. In addition, the importance of the campus visit in the college search process was confirmed. This is congruent with current college choice research. Findings suggest the web has increased in importance as a recruitment strategy and is considered nearly as influential as printed pieces in the recruitment funnel. Recommendations and implications for enrollment management professionals associated with university flight programs are provided.
... Hemsley-Brown and Oplatk (2016) and Paulsen's (1990) research on higher education school choice proposed that students' choice decisions are formed mainly by the interactions between students' characteristics, such as domestic students and international students, and external influences. The external influences typically include school marketing approaches (e.g., campus visits, contact with school staff), relevant people (e.g., family members, friends), and institutional factors (e.g., tuition, school reputation) (Chapman, 1981;Hoyt & Brown, 2003;Melvin, 2003;Meyer, 2019). Many researchers, for instance, Hemsley-Brown and Oplatk (2016), Hoyt and Brown (2003), Melvin (2003), Meyer (2019), and Walton (2014), refer to such external influences as school choice factors. ...
... The external influences typically include school marketing approaches (e.g., campus visits, contact with school staff), relevant people (e.g., family members, friends), and institutional factors (e.g., tuition, school reputation) (Chapman, 1981;Hoyt & Brown, 2003;Melvin, 2003;Meyer, 2019). Many researchers, for instance, Hemsley-Brown and Oplatk (2016), Hoyt and Brown (2003), Melvin (2003), Meyer (2019), and Walton (2014), refer to such external influences as school choice factors. ...
... Accordingly, when targeting the diverse market, it is essential to understand how various choice factors influence students' ultimate decisions in attending their schools; such an approach can help administrators to obtain determinative recruitment information for developing and tailoring strategies that match different student market segments, based on students' preferences and expectations for their schools (Hemsley-Brown & Oplatka, 2016;Hoyt & Brown, 2003;Paulsen, 1990). Melvin (2003) investigated choice factors influencing a sample of 147 study participants/current students attending a university's pilot training program. The key marketing approaches that influenced students' decisions included campus visits, school publications, and the school's website. ...
As international civil aviation activities resume from the COVID-19 pandemic, along with fleet growth and high retirement rates for senior pilots, there is a concern about the industry’s capability in supplying sufficient numbers of competent professional pilots. In order to advance the industry’s recruitment, it is necessary to determine effective approaches that may attract prospective student pilots to flight schools. This study investigated how school choice factors influenced U.S. domestic student pilots’ selections of vocational, non-collegiate flight schools in comparison to international student pilots. The study data were adopted from a 2019 survey research, which included 157 domestic and 44 international participants. The participants were invited to rate how much influence various choice factors, including marketing approaches, relevant people, and institutional factors, had on their school choice decision-making. Key findings regarding marketing approaches revealed that word of mouth and media-based marketing approaches were significantly more influential for international student pilots. Whereas domestic student pilots seemed to prefer personal communication-based marketing approaches. With respect to the influence of relevant people, this study found that certain school members (i.e., flight instructors, current trainees, executive committee, and sales personnel) had a significantly higher influence on international student pilots’ school choice decisions than for domestic student pilots. In regard to institutional factors, it was found that both groups included the following factors as the key influencers: training quality, availability of flying opportunities, training costs, safety record of the programs, the overall reputation, length of time to complete program, reputation of flight instructors, scheduling flexibility, and training capacity. Moreover, international student pilots endorsed that institutional factors pertaining to school campus life had significantly more influence on their school selections than their domestic counterparts. Implications and recommendations were proposed. This study helps fill a gap in the current literature on vocational flight school choices.
... There have been four themes of school choice factors recognized in the literature: program characteristics (e.g., teaching quality, the reputation of instructors) (Melvin, 2003;Sheppard, 2013), institutional characteristics (e.g., tuition, location) (Melvin, 2003;Sheppard, 2013), relevant people (e.g., family members, school staff) (Hoyt & Brown, 2003;Meyer, 2019;Rocca, 2013;Walton, 2014), and marketing promotion approaches (e.g., school's website, campus visits) (Melvin, 2003;Meyer, 2019;Rocca, 2013). Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka (2016) proposed a school choice theory that similar to Chapman's (1981) and introduced student characteristics (e.g., age, gender, and socioeconomic status) as the focus in market segmentation. ...
... There have been four themes of school choice factors recognized in the literature: program characteristics (e.g., teaching quality, the reputation of instructors) (Melvin, 2003;Sheppard, 2013), institutional characteristics (e.g., tuition, location) (Melvin, 2003;Sheppard, 2013), relevant people (e.g., family members, school staff) (Hoyt & Brown, 2003;Meyer, 2019;Rocca, 2013;Walton, 2014), and marketing promotion approaches (e.g., school's website, campus visits) (Melvin, 2003;Meyer, 2019;Rocca, 2013). Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka (2016) proposed a school choice theory that similar to Chapman's (1981) and introduced student characteristics (e.g., age, gender, and socioeconomic status) as the focus in market segmentation. ...
... There have been four themes of school choice factors recognized in the literature: program characteristics (e.g., teaching quality, the reputation of instructors) (Melvin, 2003;Sheppard, 2013), institutional characteristics (e.g., tuition, location) (Melvin, 2003;Sheppard, 2013), relevant people (e.g., family members, school staff) (Hoyt & Brown, 2003;Meyer, 2019;Rocca, 2013;Walton, 2014), and marketing promotion approaches (e.g., school's website, campus visits) (Melvin, 2003;Meyer, 2019;Rocca, 2013). Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka (2016) proposed a school choice theory that similar to Chapman's (1981) and introduced student characteristics (e.g., age, gender, and socioeconomic status) as the focus in market segmentation. ...
This study examined school choice factors influencing decisions to enroll in vocational flight schools among student pilots enrolled as teenagers. The purpose of identifying these factors is to inform flight school recruiters about possible insights for effectively recruiting teenage students. The study data was based on a 2019 survey. This study included 45 participants who met the following inclusion criteria: intended to become airline pilots, were aged 15-18 at enrollment, and were enrolled in vocational, non-collegiate flight schools for private pilot training in California in 2016-2019. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The key findings regarding training program factors that influenced decisions were: training quality, safety records of the programs, the reputation of certificated flight instructors, availability of flying opportunities, length of time to complete the program, scheduling flexibility. In terms of institutional factors, the participants highlighted training costs, overall school reputation, training capacity, career placement, administration integrity, friendliness of the campus, financial aid availability, and administration effectiveness. Moreover, the participants considered family members, school flight instructors, and school staff as the most important individuals influencing their school selection. With respect to school marketing promotion approaches, the teenage group identified contact with school flight instructors, contact with school staff, campus visits, word of mouth, and school's website as relatively more influential approaches. This study contributes to the current literature on vocational school choice decision-making, specifically for teenage students choosing flight schools. In addition, collegiate aviation programs recruiting young adult students could also benefit from this study's findings since very few studies have been conducted examining students' choice patterns for collegiate aviation institutions.
... For instance, a flight school that initially adopted a particular training aircraft may continue to use the same aircraft model for decades due to the investment in training materials and instructor expertise specific to that model. Institutional Legacies: Legacy practices and traditions within flight schools can contribute to organizational inertia (Melvin, 2003). For example, long-standing relationships with regulatory authorities or industry partners may influence how flight schools respond to new regulatory changes or market conditions. ...
This study employs a comprehensive bibliometric and content analysis to explore the application of institutional theory within the context of flight schools and aviation education. Utilizing data extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) database, this research examines the most influential studies, authors, and research trends in this field from 2000 to 2023. The findings highlight the critical role of institutional pressures and logics in shaping the operations and evolution of flight schools. This study contributes to the existing literature by integrating institutional theory with bibliometric methods, offering a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing aviation education and identifying areas for future research. Limitations include the dataset's restriction to publications indexed in the WoS and the basic NLP tools used for analysis. Future research should incorporate more advanced NLP techniques, consider additional databases, and explore the impact of emerging technologies on aviation education.
... Specifically, the findings that traditional and teenage student pilots emphasized the significant influence of family members in the school choice process was found in previous studies. Two examples are Melvin's (2003) survey research that focused on a sample of traditional, full-time students for a university's airway science professional pilot program and Oymak's (2018) study of a cohort of high school students who intended to continue education in college. These studies found that family members or parents had or would have a major influence over students' decision-making. ...
To assist with exploring strategies for effectively promoting vocational noncollegiate flight schools to diverse student markets of nontraditional student pilots, traditional student pilots, and teenage student pilots, this study compared and analyzed school choice factors of marketing approaches, relevant people, institutional features, and training program features that influenced these three groups of student pilots’ school selections. The study data was collected via a survey questionnaire, and the sample included 176 participants. There were 42 choice factor survey items, and the participants were guided to rate the level of influence of each factor on their school choice decisions. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA methods were utilized to analyze the collected data. According to the key findings, all three groups highlighted the following factors as most influential on their school choice: training quality, availability of flying opportunities, training costs, safety records of the programs, reputation of flight instructors, the overall reputation, length of time to complete the program, scheduling flexibility, training capacity, and administration integrity. While the typical discrepancies of the key findings among the three groups revealed that both traditional and teenage student pilots considered relevant people of family members as having the most influence. Nontraditional student pilots deemed institutional features of geographic proximity as a key factor. Teenage student pilots emphasized institutional features of career placement as relatively more influential. The ANOVA results showed that significant differences existed in the influence of relevant people of school’s flight instructors and of family members.
Expert engineers who are good Engligh communication skills are the top in-demand jobs in Thailand. Currently, there are 13 institutions that offered international engineering curriculums. The purpose of this study is to estimating the maximum value of parents' willingness to pay (WTP) and influenced factors affecting the WTP for sending their children to higher education in the field of an international engineering curriculum in Thailand. The contingent valuation method and binary logistic regression are employed to identify significant factors. The results indicate that the average maximum amount of WTP is 191,900 baht per year. Three different scenarios are considered: current situation (based model), economic downturn, and rise of tuition. Significant factors in each scenario are discussed in this paper.
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