AI meets the search for a BA. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Stephanie Hughes.

One of the biggest financial decisions a person will ever make is whether to go to college and where.

Now, artificial intelligence is playing a bigger role in advising prospective college students on that decision.

According to a survey out today from the education company EAB, about half of high schoolers for planning to go to college are using AI tools in that search.

That's nearly double the number from last spring.

For Jennifer Jesse, a college consultant in the D.C. area, that tracks.

A student's using AI almost all the time for almost anything.

So, Jesse says it makes sense that they'll ask it to find colleges with particular attributes.

They'll usually say, oh, okay, I want a school in engineering that has this particular engineering program.

I want a good football team.

And the AI will spit out a list of colleges.

Michael Coppenheifer, a co-author on that EAB study, says high schoolers

are also asking very targeted questions. Hey, ChatsyPT, I'm interested in this college. Can you go on

Reddit and Instagram and tell me what the vibe on campus is like? Coppenhefer says students are also

using the tools to help make a decision about where to go,

tossing in the schools they've gotten into, the scholarships they've gotten, and asking the

AI to pro-con everything for them. He says kids are turning to this because it makes the whole

exhausting college search experience easier. Many of us have been through this process in our

lives. You know it is difficult. It's a lot to

think about and assimilate. And AI is great at making information collection analysis easier.

We'll be right back. You're listening to Marketplace Tech. I'm Stephanie Hughes. We're talking

about how AI is affecting the college search

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