Abstract
Competition among educational institutions, particularly private ones, has become increasingly intense. Every school must possess unique strengths and effective marketing strategies to attract the interest of parents and prospective students. Over the past five years, SMP SSFX has faced challenges in meeting student enrollment quotas, which have fluctuated and tended to position the school as a second choice. Using a quantitative approach, data were collected via questionnaires distributed to 106 parents of grade VII students at SMP SSFX II, selected through purposive sampling. This study aims to analyze the influence of Brand Image, Educational Costs, and Word of Mouth on parents' decisions to choose the school. The results indicate that, partially, Brand Image and Educational Costs do not have a significant effect on parents' decisions, while Word of Mouth is the most influential factor. Simultaneously, Brand Image, Educational Costs, and Word of Mouth have a significant effect on parents' decisions, with a coefficient of determination of 94.8%. The findings demonstrate that parents' decisions regarding school selection are influenced more by recommendations and experiences gained from their social circles than by the school's image or cost considerations.
