The effects of concern about price of college and student aptitude for college upon the tendencies of parents and students to change their preference for private colleges to public colleges at the application stage of the college selection process were examined through two surveys conducted by Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. In one survey, questionnaires were mailed to 2,000 parents of high school seniors whose combined verbal and mathematics Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) scores were above 100. Equal numbers of parents were selected in each of six metropolitan areas: San Francisco/Oakland, Denver/Boulder, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington, DC/Baltimore, Chicago, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. A nearly identical questionnaire was sent to 3,000 high school seniors meeting the same PSAT criterion in those cities. The questionnaires were mailed by the College Board, and Carleton College was not identified as a research participant. Usable responses were received from 47 percent of the parents and 49 percent of the students. Based on the findings, it is concluded that price is an important determinant of where people choose to apply for college admission and that college aptitude does not counter that influence. In addition, the results indicate that substantial monetary savings are achieved by those people who move from the private to the public higher education sector. Discrepancies between the present findings and those of a similar study conducted by Spies (1978) are considered. A bibliography is appended. (SW)