A new study from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University reveals that political identity plays a growing role in shaping where students decide to attend college in the United States — a trend that researchers say could deepen polarization and limit exposure to diverse viewpoints on campus.
Drawing on four decades of survey data from UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, researchers Riley Acton, Emily Cook, and Paola Ugalde document a steady rise in political sorting among college students. Their analysis shows that institutions that leaned liberal in the 1980s have become even more so, while conservative-leaning campuses have also intensified in that direction. Importantly, the authors found that this trend cannot be explained solely by demographic, socioeconomic, or academic differences.
“Colleges have grown increasingly polarized in the political beliefs of their students,” the authors wrote. “Little of the growing dispersion of political views across colleges can be explained by changes in the sorting of students along standard observable characteristics like race, gender, academic preparation, geographic origins, or even religion.”
To understand how politics may directly influence enrollment, the team also conducted survey-based choice experiments with current undergraduates. These experiments tested how students weigh political alignment against other factors such as cost, location, and campus amenities. The results suggest that many students prioritize politics more than traditional considerations.
Both liberal and conservative students expressed a preference for attending colleges with more like-minded peers. Even more strongly, they preferred institutions with fewer students from the opposite political camp. According to the study, the median student is willing to pay up to $2,617 — about 12.5 percent more in tuition — to attend a college where the share of students with opposing political views is 10 percentage points lower.
The authors note that liberal students were particularly willing to pay a premium to avoid conservative peers, while conservative students showed a slightly smaller but still significant aversion to liberal classmates.
These findings, the researchers argue, highlight how affective polarization — the tendency to view political opponents with hostility — extends beyond voting behavior and into one of the most consequential decisions young people make. “Political identity plays a meaningful role in the college choice process for a wide range of students,” the paper concludes.
The study warns that this trend could reinforce existing demographic and regional disparities in higher education access. Because political affiliation is increasingly correlated with geography and socioeconomic status, political sorting into elite, resource-rich institutions may amplify inequality.
It also raises concerns about the civic mission of higher education. Campuses, traditionally viewed as places for intellectual exchange, risk becoming echo chambers. “Increased polarization of student bodies represents a missed opportunity to foster political dialogue in college,” the authors wrote, citing prior research showing that cross-partisan conversations can increase tolerance and understanding.
Some institutions have already responded to concerns about viewpoint diversity. Harvard University president Alan Garber acknowledged in an NPR interview that “conservatives are too few on campus and their views are not welcome. In so far as that’s true, that’s a problem we really need to address.” Other universities, such as those in Ohio, have established “intellectual diversity centers” to encourage political dialogue.
The researchers suggest that if colleges want to ensure students encounter a range of perspectives, they will need to actively recruit and retain a politically diverse applicant pool. Without such efforts, they caution, higher education may mirror — and even exacerbate — the polarization that increasingly defines American civic life.
