Latent Factors That Affect Applicants' Choice of the University of Cape Coast

ABSTRACT 

Choice  of  university  education  in  Ghana  is  a  competitive  exercise for senior  High  School  students.  Choosing  it  requires  consideration  of  various factors. The  motivation  for  the  study  is  to  measure  high  school  students’ perception of the University of Cape Coast. To this end, the study focuses on various factors. The objective of the study therefore is to determine the latent factors  that  are  considered  by  the  SHS  students  in  their  decision.  In  order  to achieve this objective, 20 Senior High Schools were selected for the study. A questionnaire was used to that effect. The hypotheses related to the thesis lie in the  choice  and  significance  of  the  factors  the  students  used  to  answer  the  28 indicators. The main analytical technique used in the study is factor analysis. After  rotation,  the  main  latent  factor  influencing  applicants’  choice  of the  University  of  Cape  Coast  is  academic  resources.  Four  other  factors  in decreasing order of influence are quality assurance, cost of study, influences of others  and  discipline.  It  is  worth  mentioning  that  almost  all  the  factors  are dependent  on  some  demographic  characteristic  such  as  age  and  sex  of  the respondents.