Two-year colleges have played an important role in providing postsecondary education for women in postwar Japan. More recently, a dwindling college-bound population in Japan has resulted in a drastic decrease in the number of and enrollment in 2-year colleges. This study explored the motivations and aspirations of 12 Japanese female students to understand the factors influencing their choice of a 2-year college. Findings suggest that 2-year college administrators and faculty members need to hear the voices of female students in today’s society. This will enhance the colleges’ role in community-based higher education and help them better serve the interests of prospective students and the needs of regional businesses and industries. Findings are discussed in the context of contemporary Japanese society.
AmanoM. (1997). Women in higher education. Higher Education, 34, 215-235.
2.
BakshA.HoytJ. E. (2001). The effect of academic scholarships on college attendance. College and University, 76(4), 3-8.
3.
BergersonA. A. (2009). College choice and access to college: Moving policies, research and practice to the 21st century. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
4.
BogdanR. C.BiklenS. K. (2003). Qualitative research for education (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
5.
BraddockJ. H.DawkinsM. P. (1993). Ability grouping, aspirations, and attainments: Evidence from the national educational longitudinal study of 1988. Journal of Negro Education, 62, 324-336.
6.
BrintonM. C. (1989). Gender stratification in contemporary urban Japan. American Sociological Review, 54, 549-564.
7.
CabreraA. F.La NasaS. M. (2000). Understanding the college-choice process. In CabreraA. F.La NasaS. M. (Eds.), Understanding the college choice of disadvantaged students: New directions for institutional research, No. 107 (pp. 5-22). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
8.
CainP. P.McClintockJ. M. (1984, Fall). The ABC’s of choice. Journal of College Admissions, 105, 15-21.
9.
CarpenterP. G.FleishmanJ. A. (1987). Linking intentions and behavior: Australian students’ college plans and college attendance. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 79-105.
ConklinM. E.DaileyA. R. (1981). Does consistency of parental educational encouragement matter for secondary school students?Sociology of Education, 54, 254-262.
12.
ConleyD. (2001). Capital for college: Parental assets and postsecondary schooling. Sociology of Education, 74, 59-72.
13.
DesJardinsS. L.AhlburgD. A.McCallB. P. (2006). An integrated model of application, admission, enrollment, and financial aid. Journal of Higher Education, 77, 381-429
14.
DesJardinsS. L.DundarH.HendelD. D. (1999). Modeling the college application decision process in a land-grant university. Economics of Education Review, 18, 117-132.
15.
DynarskiS. (2002). The behavioral and distributional implications of aid for college. American Economic Review, 92, 279-285.
16.
EspinozaS.BradshawG.HausmanC. (2002). The importance of college choice factors from the perspective of high school counselors. College and University, 77(4), 19-23.
17.
FreemanK. (2006). Increasing African American’s participation in higher education: African American high-school student’s perspectives. Journal of Higher Education, 68, 523-550.
18.
Fujimura-FanselowK. (1995). Women’s participation in higher education in Japan. In ShieldJ.Jr. (Ed.), Japanese schooling: Patterns of socialization, equality and political control (pp. 163-175). University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
19.
GalottiK. M.MarkM. C. (1994). How do high school students structure an important life decision? A short-term longitudinal study of the college decision-making process. Research in Higher Education, 35, 589-607.
20.
GandertonP. T. (1992). The effect of subsidies in kind on the choice of a college. Journal of Public Economics, 48, 269-292.
21.
GardnerJ. A. (1987). Transition from high school to postsecondary education: Analytical studies (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED280370). Washington, DC: Center for Education Statistics, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U. S. Department of Education.
22.
HamrickF. A.StageF. K. (2004). College predisposition at high-minority enrollment, low-income schools. Review of Higher Education, 27, 151-168.
23.
HaradaM. (1993). The Japanese junior college and the American community college: A comparative study. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Los Angeles. Retrieved from ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED358903.
24.
HaynesR. M.BushV. B.PascoG. E. (2010). Institutional characteristics and the college choice process for Texas Hispanics. Enrollment Management Journal, 4(2), 10-42. Retrieved from http://www.tgslc.org/pdf/emj-s10.pdf
25.
HearnJ. C. (1991). Academic and nonacademic influences on the college destinations of 1980 high school graduates. Sociology of Education, 64, 158-171.
26.
HenricksonL. (2002). Old wine in a new wineskin: College choice, college access using agent-based modeling. Social Science Computer Review, 20, 400-419.
27.
HosslerD.BraxtonJ.CoopersmithG. (1989). Understanding college choice. In SmartC. (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. V, pp. 231-288). New York, NY: Agathon.
28.
HosslerD.GallagherK. S. (1987). Studying college choice: A three-phase model and the implications for policymakers. College and University, 62, 207-221.
29.
HosslerD.SchmitJ.VesperN. (1999). Going to college: How social, economic, and educational factors influence the decisions students make. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
30.
HurstC. E. (2004). Social inequality. Forms, causes, and consequences (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
31.
Japan Association for Private Junior Colleges (2009). Tandai kyoiku no saikouchiku o mezashite [For rebuilding a two-year college education]. Retrieved from http://www.tandai.or.jp/topics/archives/000206.html
KambayashiK. (1981). A comparison between junior colleges and special training colleges in Japan. Higher Education, 10, 473-486.
34.
KondoH. (2000). Education and social mobility in postwar Japan: Trends and some institutional aspects. International Journal of Japanese Sociology, 9, 3-19.
35.
LillisM. P. (2008). High-tuition, high-loan financing: Economic segregation in postsecondary education. Journal of Education Finance, 34, 15-30.
36.
MatsunagaL. (2000). The changing face of Japanese retail. New York, NY: Routledge.
37.
McDonoughP. M. (1997). Choosing colleges: How social class and schools structure opportunity. Albany: State University of New York Press.
38.
McVeighB. J. (1997). Life in a Japanese women’s college: Learning to be ladylike. London, UK: Routledge.
Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications (2010). Tokei kara mita waga kuni no koreisha [Demographic data on aging]. Retrieved from http://www.stat.go.jp/data/topics/topi480.htm
42.
MuhammadC. G. (2008). African American students and college choice: A consideration of the role of school counselors. National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Bulletin, 92, 81-94.
43.
National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (2006). Shussho doko chosa: Kekkon ni kansuru zenkoku chosa [Survey on trends in fertility: National survey on marriage] Retrieved from http://www.ipss.go.jp/ps-doukou/j/doukou13_s/Nfs13doukou_s.pdf
NishimuraF. (2004). Sengo no kyoiku seido no kaikaku [Educational reform after World War II]. In SatoJ. (Ed.), Gendai kyoiku seido [Modern educational system] (pp. 25-36). Tokyo, Japan: Gakubunsha.
46.
NomaguchiL. M. (2006). Time of one’s own: Employment, leisure, and delayed transition to motherhood in Japan. Journal of Family Issues, 27, 1668-1700.
47.
NoraA. (2004). The role of habitus and cultural capital in choosing a college, transitioning from high school to higher education, and persisting in college among minority and nonminority students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3, 180-207.
48.
OakesJ. (1986). Keeping track, part 2: Curriculum inequality and school reform. Phi Delta Kappan, 68, 148-154.
49.
OgasawaraY. (1998). Office ladies and salaried men: Power, gender, and work in Japanese companies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
50.
OkanoK.TsuchiyaM. (1999). Education in contemporary Japan: Inequality and diversity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
51.
OnoH. (2001). Who goes to college? Features of institutional tracking in Japanese higher education. American Journal of Education, 109, 161-195.
52.
PrattP.EvansD. (2002). Assessment of the utility of parents as sources of information about the college decisions of their children. College and University, 77(4), 9-12.
53.
Promotion and Mutual Aid Cooperation for Private Schools of Japan (2010). Tanki daigaku nyugaku sigan doko [Report on the 2010 enrollment of two-year colleges]. Retrieved from http://www.shigaku.go.jp/files/shigandoukou22.pdf
54.
RamasubramanianS.GyureJ. F.MursiN. M. (2002). Impact of internet images: Impression-formation effects of university web site images. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 12(2), 49-68.
55.
ShireK. A. (1999). Socialization and work in Japan: The meaning of adulthood of men and women in a business context. International Journal of Japanese Sociology, 8, 77-92.
56.
SmithH. (2007). Playing a different game: The contextualized decision-making processes of minority ethnic students in choosing a higher education institution. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 10, 415-437.
57.
SmithS.MatthewsT. A. (1991). How do students choose a particular college? A survey of admitted students: 1990. College Student Journal, 25, 485-488.
58.
SomersP. A.St. JohnE. P. (1993). Assessing the impact of financial aid offers on enrollment decisions. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 23(3), 7-12.
59.
StageF. K.HosslerD. (1989). Differences in family influences on college attendance plans for male and female ninth graders. Research in Higher Education, 30, 301-315.
60.
StarobinS. S. (2002). Community colleges in Japan and the social status of Japanese women. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 26, 493-502.
61.
SternS. (1997). Education and work in Japan: Implications for policy. In CummingsW. K.AltbachP. G. (Eds.), The challenge of eastern Asian education: Implications for America (pp. 173-188). Albany: State University of New York Press.
62.
SugimotoY. (2002). An introduction to Japanese society (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
63.
TeranishiR. T.CejaM.AntonioA. L.AllenW. R.McDonoughP. (2004). The college-choice process for Asian Pacific Americans: Ethnicity and socioeconomic class in context. Review of Higher Education, 27, 527-551.
64.
WalkerP. (2007). System transition in Japanese short-term higher education: What future for the Japanese junior college in crisis?Compare, 37, 239-255.
65.
YamadaR. (1995). Higher education and gender roles in Japanese society: An assessment of disparity. Prospects, 25, 791-802.
