Introduction
Background
The past 20 years have seen a global movement towards expanding student choices and the increased impact that external forces , such as parental influence , can have on the decisions of college students ( Ho & Lu , 2018 ). A common misconception is that the increase in tuition fees have had an impact on the number of students progressing to university . Yet , the number of students entering further study is increasing each year , but it is worrying that in 2016 , nearly 90,000 students applied to university from “ wealthy ” areas whilst only 30,000 applied from “ poorer ” areas ( Coughlan , 2017 ). It can be argued that this is due to parents / family influence and the fact that university has not been an option in the past . However , this is an assumption and one that will be tested in this study .
This study will look at Higher Education as the product / service that it is and seek to understand the demand attributes , i . e . the reasons for purchase , ( Kuokkanen and Sun , 2019 ) that affect any product or service and identify why students make the decision to attend university or not .
The decision-making process itself , and the levels within it , are articulated and explained well in traditional marketing literature ( Kotler , 2005 ; Brassington & Pettitt , 2007 ; & Baines et al ., 2013 ). A key stage of this process is the evaluation of alternatives ( Baines et al ., 2013 ) and , therefore what is equally important , are the external and internal factors that affect students when making this evaluation . These external factors will be affected by the opportunity cost of Higher Education ; i . e . the next best alternative forgone ( Kotler , 2005 ), the determinant attributes ; i . e . the features of the service and its alternative that are most attractive to the student and , finally , the compensatory decision rule ; i . e . the trade-off between alternatives ( Brassington & Pettitt , 2007 ).
The goal of the project is to explore the decision-making process and experience of vocational students from an Uni Connect ) background , during their final year at college , in terms of their future post college . Uni Connect individuals , as defined by the Office for Students ( OfS ), are individuals from areas where engagement with Higher Education is low based on GCSE attainment ( https :// www . officeforstudents . org . uk / advice-and-guidance / promoting-equalopportunities / uni-connect / how-uni-connect-works / This study seeks to understand , through in-depth discussions with students from business and sport vocational courses , how decisions are made by Uni Connect students about whether or not to apply for higher education . It
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