GMR Marketing recently released a new survey on what “independence” looks like through the eyes of today’s college bound students and their parents. The study doesn’t show one consistent trend, but rather highlights that students have remained dependent and have become independent in some areas of their life.
When participants were asked if they felt like college students were more or less independent than students a generation ago, 48% responded that they felt they were less independent, while 30% said they felt more dependent. While there is not a shocking difference between these two numbers other results show where the independence and dependence lies.
The survey displays that when students needed help fixing something in their dorm room, a simple Google search or picking up the phone and calling maintenance was better than calling home. Students also overwhelming said that they wanted to do their own thing when it came to choosing a career and not follow in their parent’s footsteps.
However, when it comes to politics and picking the right college, parents did play a larger role of impact. Could this be because both of those choices do in fact affect a student’s life more than a broken sink in a dorm room?
The results show us that students are willing and ready to take a leap away from their parents when it comes to everyday situations, but when it comes to something that could change their life forever, students want to stay pretty close to home.