Published by Forbes
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State politics is shaping more students’ college lists
Art & Science Group’s summer 2026 poll found that 34% of college-bound students had ruled out a school solely because of its state’s politics, up from 28% in 2024 and 24% in 2023. Its earlier polling found that most of these students made the call at the very start of their search. New America featured the finding in an October synthesis.
Why it matters: Colleges may increasingly have to address reproductive-health law, LGBTQ protections and campus speech rules alongside academics, price and safety, especially when recruiting out of state. That last part is my inference, not the poll’s, so it’s worth testing with admissions officers.