Building Trust in Higher Education Choices: How Institutional Image, Promotion, and Tuition Costs Shape Students' Enrollment Decisions

The increasingly intense competition among private universities requires institutions to understand the factors that influence prospective students’ decisions when choosing a university. This study aims to analyze institutional image, promotion, and tuition costs in shaping students’ enrollment decisions at private universities (PTS) in East Java. The study employs a quantitative approach with an explanatory and causal design. The target population consisted of 10,448 new PTS students for the 2025/2026 academic year in Surabaya, Malang, and Jember, with a sample of 370 respondents determined using the Krejcie and Morgan approach. Primary data were collected via a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results indicate that all variables received positive ratings from respondents, with average scores of 4.10 for institutional image, 4.09 for promotion, 4.16 for tuition costs, and 4.03 for study decisions. Reputation is the primary factor shaping institutional image; message relevance is the dominant factor in promotion; and the balance between costs and benefits is the main consideration in evaluating tuition costs. Study decisions are primarily reflected in students’ confidence after receiving information about the university. These findings highlight the importance of integrating efforts to strengthen institutional reputation, deliver relevant promotional communications, and create educational value commensurate with costs in reinforcing students’ decisions to choose private universities.