THE INFLUENCE OF BRAND IMAGE, PAYMENT SYSTEM, AND PROMOTION ON INTEREST IN COLLEGE AT THE UNIVERSITAS MAHKOTA TRICOM UNGGUL

This study aims to find out whether brand image, payment systems and promotions affect a person's interest in continuing their studies at Mahkota Tricom Unggul University. The method used in this study uses quantitative methods. Furthermore, the data collection technique uses a questionnaire. The data analysis technique uses multiple linear regression analysis with the help of IBM SPSS Software. The results of the study show that (1) Brand Image influences interest in studies at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan. (2) The payment system affects interest studies at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan. (3) The promotion affects my interest in studying at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul. (4) Brand image, payment system, and promotion simultaneously affect the exciting study at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan.


Introduction
Education is essential and needs serious attention for someone facing today's global competition (D.M. S. Y. L. Nasib, 2022).With education, of course, it is hoped that a person can develop all the potential within himself through a system of teaching, education, and research carried out by a tertiary institution (M.Nasib, 2021).It is hoped that with education, a person can have personality, intelligence, and skills that can benefit the surrounding environment (Syaifuddin, 2022).Increasingly sophisticated technological developments also require companies to obtain qualified and highly competitive employee qualifications (N.M. Z. F. A. Fadli, 2020).Of course, this can be obtained through further education at the tertiary level (F.R. A. L. S. S. Y. L. Nasib, 2023).
Based on data from (the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religion, 2023), it is known that the number of students in Indonesia has continued to increase over the last four years.The following is data on the number of students in the last four years in Indonesia: International Journal of Accounting, Management, Economics and Social Sciences.IJAMESC, PT.ZillZell Media Prima, 2023.

153
(The Ministry of Education and Culture of Religion Indonesia, 2023) Based on these data, it is known that the number of students in Indonesia has increased relatively high in 2022.Around 9.32 million people are attending tertiary education.This indicates that the Indonesian people are increasingly aware that education at the tertiary level is critical at this time.This data on the increase in the number of students in Indonesia differs from the number of students enrolling at Universitas Mahkota Tricom Unggul in 2022.Based on observations and interviews, it is known that the target for admitting the number of students at Universitas Mahkota Tricom Unggul in 2022 is 500 people.The results obtained were not in line with the predetermined targets.The number of students who registered was only 120 people.
It is further known that a person's interest in pursuing further education at a university or college certainly has many underlying factors (Amelia, 2018).One factor influencing a person's interest in continuing education is the image factor or the big name of a tertiary institution, also called brand image (T. A. S. M. I. P. S. A. S. C. Nasib, 2021).It is essential to build an image for a university to attract consumers, in this case, high school students, to choose the campus (N.M. F. A. S. D. N. R. A. Fadli, 2022).This is also in line with research conducted by (B. A. Nasib, 2022) that brand image and perceptions of educational costs positively and significantly affect the intention to continue their studies at tertiary institutions.
A factor that also dramatically influences a person's interest in continuing their education at a university is the payment system implemented by the university (Nasution, 2022).The campus uses the payment system to assist students in making tuition payment transactions (Pontoh;dkk, 2022).A payment system that is easy, practical, and can be paid in installments will increase a person's interest in continuing their following education.Research with a payment system for interest in continuing studies needs further research because there still needs to be more research, and further studies are needed on other research objects (Safira, 2023).
Furthermore, promotion is crucial in increasing one's interest in continuing their studies at university (Baharsyah, 2020).With the promotion, someone can get to know a brand so that it can attract interest to join or buy it.Promotion can be used as a communication tool to teach prospective students about a university's services.Research conducted by (N. S. Chaniago, 2018) proved that promotion positively and significantly affects a person's interest in continuing his studies at university.(Nasib, 2019).Interest in college is a form of solid encouragement for further learning activities to achieve even better abilities (Amalia, 2022).Many factors also influence one's interest in college.According to (Awaliah, 2019) interest in a college is a way that someone chooses to improve all education and skills to face increasingly fierce competition.
Factors that can affect interest in college are internal and external (Susanto, 2019).Someone who has a high interest in continuing their education to the university level will try to find out in full all the information related to the campus (Susanto, 2019)

Brand Image
According to (Kotler & Amstrong, 2012), a brand is a form of sign names, words, and symbols that exist to identify particular goods or services.It is known that a good brand will be able to have its interest for customers to buy products or services.Brands also have several benefits for consumers with a brand; of course, they can provide information about the quality or quality of these goods and services (Syaifullah, 2021).For manufacturers themselves, brands can help sellers to facilitate the sales transaction process and can provide legal protection for the characteristics of the products or services produced (Mea, 2020).Furthermore, selecting a brand university can also provide significant benefits to consumers or prospective students who will join, such as a comparison with other competing universities.The university must be able to maintain the good name of the campus so that it does not have a bad image in the eyes of the public (Romla, 2021).

Payment System
Payment systems are how contractual arrangements, operating facilities, and technical mechanisms are used to send, confirm and receive payment instructions and fulfill obligations of fees collected through the exchange of "value" between individuals, banks, and other institutions (Raji, 2019).With the payment system used, it is hoped that it will be easier for someone to make payment transactions.There are also several ways to pay tuition fees.The method used can be cash or direct payments, and there are payments with an interbank transfer system (Salbiyah, 2018).A university must be able to implement a payment system that is easy and practical, and attractive for students who join the campus.The tuition payment system can also be done wholly or in a credit and installment system.Payment by credit or installments is attractive to students because it makes it easier for them to make payments (Purnamasari, 2021).

Promotion
Promotion is a way that can be done to be able to introduce a product or service to the public (Wariki, 2015).With the promotion, it is hoped that consumers will get to know all the information about the product or service being marketed.Promotions must be made attractive and able to use the most influential media so that consumers or prospective students can receive the message (N.& S. Chaniago, 2018).In the world of education, promotion is also an important thing to do.This is so that the campus continues to grow and compete with other existing campuses (S.Nasib, 2021).

2.5.Conceptual Research
This research is a study that examines the relationship between variables based on existing theory.The following is the conceptual framework of this study:

Methods
This study uses quantitative research methods.This study aims to determine the relationship between two or more variables (Sugiyono, 2016).The data used in this study are primary data obtained by distributing questionnaires.Primary data is a collection of information obtained directly from the source and processed to provide the expected information for the research.The population is all generalizations consisting of objects/subjects with specific quantities and characteristics determined by the researcher to be studied and then conclusions drawn.The population is an essential thing in research.
The population used in this study were all 100 students of class XII SMA Private Brigjend Katamso Ii Medan, and the entire population was also used as a sample.  1 above, it can be concluded that all items of the brand image variable questionnaire statement are valid.It can be seen from the calculation that the value of the r count is greater than the value of the r table (0.197) with a significance of 0.05.The subsequent variable testing is the payment system variable.In this variable, there are four indicators with 8 statement items.

Results and Discussion
The following results of the validity test can be seen in Table 2: Based on the results of the validity test on the dependent variable, namely the interest study, the results can be seen in Table 4 above.From the test results, it is known that all statement items are valid.This indicates that further data testing can be carried out, namely the reliability test on the questionnaire.

Research Reliability Test Results
The reliability test is an instrument test that, when used several times to measure the same object, will produce the same or reliable data (Ghazali, 2013).The reliability test must also meet the Cronbach Alpha value criteria, which must be greater than 0.60.The following are the results of the reliability test in this study: Based on reliability testing, all variables from this study are reliable.This can be seen from the results in table 5 above.It is known that the Cronbach Alpha value of all statement items for each research variable is more significant than 0.60.

Normality Test Results
The next test is the normality test.The normality test is a test conducted to find out whether the data is normally distributed or not.The normality test was performed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.A good research or scientific work is one whose data can be normally distributed.Following are the results of the data normality test using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test in this study, which can be seen in Data Source SPSS 2023 Based on the results of the Kolmogorov Smirnov test using SPSS, as in Table 6 above, it can be seen that the significance value of Asymp Sig.(2-tailed) of 0.876.The value of 0.876 can be known to be greater than 0.05.This can indicate that all the data in this study were usually distributed.

Hypothesis Test Results
The next test is to test the data hypothesis or t-test (partially).This test was carried out to be able to see partially the influence of brand image (X1), payment system (X2), and promotion (X3) variables on interest studies (Y) at Universitas Mahkota Tricom Unggul (Y).The following are the results of the t-test in this study: 159 0.007 <0.05.From the regression test results, it can be concluded that the brand image variable (X1) has a positive and significant effect on interest studies at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan (Y). 2. The effect of the payment system on interest studies from the regression analysis results in the study showed that t-count 3,249 > t-table 1,984 and a significance value of 0.002 <0.05.From the regression test results, it can be concluded that the payment system variable (X2) has a positive and significant effect on interest studies at Universitas Mahkota Tricom Unggul, Medan (Y). 3. The effect of promotion on interest studies from the results of the regression analysis in the study showed that t-count 3,805 > t-table 1,984 and a significance value of 0.000 <0.05.From the regression test results, it can be concluded that the promotion variable (X3) has a positive and significant effect on interest studies at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan (Y).

F Test Results (Simultaneous)
The F or simultaneous test aims to determine the effect of the independent or independent variables simultaneously on the dependent or dependent variable.The results of the F test in this study can be seen in Table 8 as follows:  8, the F count is greater than the F table (4,532 > 3.090) and has a significance value of 0.000 <0.005.From the results of the F test in this study, it can be obtained that brand image, payment system, and promotion have a positive and significant effect on interest studies at Universitas Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan (Y).

Determination Test Results (R-Square)
Next, a determination test or R-Square is carried out.This test is conducted to show what percentage of the independent or independent variable influences the dependent or dependent variable.The results of the determination test can be seen in Table 9   The results of the determination test from this study are obtained in Table 9 above.The results of the determination test in this study indicate that the interest study variable (Y) can be explained by brand image (X1), payment system (X2), and promotion (X3) variables of 55.2%, the remaining 44.8% are influenced by other variables that do not examine in this study.Other variables not examined in this study can be included as follow-up variables that will be examined in the same field.

The Influence Of Brand Image On Interest Studies At The University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan (Y)
Based on the results of the T-test in this study, it can be seen that the t-count results are 2,750 > t-table 1,984 and a significance value of 0.007 <0.05, so this indicates that the first hypothesis or H1 is accepted.It is known that brand image, namely the image or good name of a campus, will affect a person's interest in conducting further studies (Siregar, 2021) (Pranata, 2021) (Lubis, 2020).The results of this study are also in line with research conducted by (Tatik Suryani, 2013), which provides research results that brand image has a positive and significant impact on interest studies.A better brand image built by a university will increase one's interest in conducting further studies on campus (E.H. S. Nasib, 2020).

The effect of The Payment System On Interest Studies At The University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan (Y).
Based on the results of the T-test in this study, it can be seen that t-count 3,249 > t-table 1,984 and a significance value of 0.002 <0.05.From the regression test results, it can be concluded that the payment system variable (X2) has a positive and significant effect on interest studies at Universitas Mahkota Tricom Unggul, Medan (Y).This certainly indicates that the second hypothesis or H2 is accepted.It is known that the payment system affects a person's interest in conducting further studies (Pontoh;dkk, 2022) (Hariyanto, 2020).The results of this study are also in line with research conducted by (Nasution, 2022) which provides research results that the payment system has a positive and significant impact on interest studies.

The influence Of Promotion On Interest Studies At The University Of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan
Based on the results of the T-test in this study, it can be seen that t-count 3,805 > t-table 1,984 and a significance value of 0.000 <0.05.From the regression test results, it can be concluded that the promotion variable (X3) has a positive and significant effect on interest studies at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan (Y).This certainly indicates that the third hypothesis, or H3, is accepted.It is known that promotion affects a person's interest in conducting further studies (Pakpahan & Fadli, 2021) (Irawan, 2021).The results of this study are also in line with research conducted by (Sitio, 2020), which provides research results that promotion has a positive and significant impact on interest studies.

The influence of brand image, payment system, and promotion on interest studies at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan (Y)
Based on the results of the F test or Simultaneous Test carried out in this study, the result is that the F count is greater than the F table (4,532 > 3.090) and has a significance value of 0.000 <0.005.From the results of the F test in this study, it can be obtained that brand International Journal of Accounting, Management, Economics and Social Sciences.IJAMESC, PT.ZillZell Media Prima, 2023.161 image, payment system, and promotion have a positive and significant effect on interest studies at Universitas Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan (Y).This research aligns with (Yusuf, 2021) (Syafitri, 2021), which shows that brand image, educational costs, and facilities directly affect a person's interest in continuing school.This research is also in line with research conducted by (Nurliyanti, 2022), which proves that brand image, location, and facilities influence student decisions in choosing a university.

Conclusion
From the results of the research and discussion carried out in this research or scientific work, conclusions can be drawn, namely: 1. Brand Image influences interest in studies at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan.From the results of this study, the better the brand image of a university, the higher a person's interest in continuing his studies at that university, and vice versa.2. The payment system affects interest studies at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan.The results of this study show that the better and more practical the payment system of a university, the higher a person's interest in continuing his studies at that university and vice versa.3. The promotion affects my interest in studying at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan.From the results of this study, the better and more often the promotions carried out by the university, the higher one's interest in continuing their studies at the university and vice versa.4. Brand image, payment system, and promotion simultaneously affect the exciting study at the University of Mahkota Tricom Unggul Medan.

. Theoretical Background 2.1. Interest Study Interest
is a form of desire in an individual's self to carry out an activity.With interest, there is an interest in curiosity, learning, admiration, or ownership of something 154 2 Research Validity Test ResultsValidity test, namely testing carried out on questionnaires used in a study.In this study, the brand image variable is measured by four indicators consisting of 10 statements.The following is the result of testing the validity of the brand image indicator: Based on the results of the validity test and the results seen in Table International Journal of Accounting, Management, Economics and Social Sciences.IJAMESC, PT.ZillZell Media Prima, 2023.

Table 2
Based on the results of the validity test on this variable, the results can be seen in Table2.From the test results, it can be concluded that all statement items are valid.The next validity test is for the promotion variable.In this variable, there are five indicators with 10 statement items.The following are the results of the promotion variable validity test:

Table 3 PromotionValidity Test Results (X3) Statement Items r Count r table (0,05) Information
Based on the results of the validity test on the promotion variable, it is known that all statement items are valid.This can be proven from all the calculated r values as more significant than the table r values.International Journal of Accounting, Management, Economics and Social Sciences.IJAMESC, PT.ZillZell Media Prima, 2023.The last validity test carried out in this study was the interest study variable.In this variable, there are four indicators with 8 statement items.Following are the results of the validity test on this variable: 157

Table 7 . T-test results Coefficients
1.The effect of brand image on interest studies from the regression analysis results in the study showed that t-count 2,750 > t-table 1,984 and a significance value of International Journal of Accounting, Management, Economics and Social Sciences.IJAMESC, PT.ZillZell Media Prima, 2023.

Table 8 . F Test Results (Simultaneous) ANOVA a
Based on the results of the F test or Simultaneous Test conducted, which can be seen in Table International Journal of Accounting, Management, Economics and Social Sciences.IJAMESC, PT.ZillZell Media Prima, 2023.