Getting through to them: reaching students who need career counseling.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a persuasive message, designed using the theory of planned behavior (TOPB; I. Ajzen, 1985) and written in the form of a student newspaper column, on undecided students' intent to seek career counseling from an informed source, such as a career counseling workshop. An experiment was conducted to test TOPB's applicability, and it was found that a message using positive reinforcement of salient beliefs and creating positive links between outcomes and workshop attendance caused a change in behavioral intention toward a greater reported likelihood of workshop attendance.

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Higher education in the United States has become a more than $165 billion industry. In 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton pledged "to make the thirteenth and fourteenth years of education--at least two years of college--just as universal in America by the twenty-first century as a high school education is today" (Haworth, 1997, p. A2). In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which has as one of its goals to make students more prepared for a college education and to help them strive for that achievement. Increasingly, scholars are noting that college is being seen as an American birthright, and students are responding to the call (Karabell, 1998; Matthews, 1997; Sacks, 1996). College is seen more as an assumption than a choice, and because of this, today's students are arguably different than students of past generations (Matthews, 1997; Ringer, 1999; Sacks, 1996). What remains the same, however, is their need to figure out a plan--an academic plan for their college years and a career plan for their futures.

Researchers estimate that between 20% and 50% of students enter their freshman year undecided about their major and future career and that between 50% and 70% of all undergraduates will change their major and future career plans at least once during college (Gordon & Steele, 2003). In addition, over the past 25 years, Gordon and Steele (2003) found that 1st-year students have grown slightly more anxious about choosing a major.

For many students, even knowing where to begin in the process of choosing a major or career can be difficult. Students' initial choices can be unrealistic because they are often based on little knowledge about academic requirements or major and job relationships (Gordon & Steele, 2003). American College Testing (ACT) President Richard L. Fergeson commented that students' career aspirations were out of sync with the jobs that will be available for many of them. He continued that students would benefit from educators helping them to start their career explorations early, perhaps as early as eighth grade, and that career counselors and teachers need to provide them with up-to-date college and career planning information so that the students can make better career decisions (ACT, 1998). Other factors that contribute to difficulty choosing or staying in a major or career path include poor high school preparation, poor academic performance in a subject required for a major or career (such as math or science), inaccurate information sources (such as entertainment television or peers), and uninformed parents (Gordon & Steele, 2003; Ringer & Dodd, 1999).

What impact does being undecided have on a student? Chase and Keene (1981) found that, compared with students who declare their majors and career plans early, students who postpone declaring a major have significantly lower grade point averages (GPAs), take fewer hours of course work, and are less academically motivated.

Gordon (1984) stated that other factors could complicate these effects by confounding the decision-making process. Students who feel pressured to make changes in a hurry, such as by the administration or parents, may not want to spend enough time examining alternatives. Other students may drift along, not acknowledging or facing their indecision, and become depressed or discouraged because of a lack of direction. These issues become magnified the further a student is into his or her college education, because even more pressure is put upon upper class students to make a concrete decision.