College Searching/Advice Seeking

ucbalumnus
Sat, 25 Apr 2020 14:11:26 +0000

HPuck35:

You should also look at the school’s 4 year graduation rate. Some, even good school’s, are horrible. A 5th year with a 4 year scholarship can be quite a financial burden.

But note that graduation rates are mostly based on student characteristics. More selective colleges with students from wealthier families tend to have fewer academic and financial dropouts. But that does not help the student who barely got into a reach college that is at the very edge of affordability. Similarly, the top merit scholarship student with a full ride is much more likely to graduate in 4 years than other students at the college who may find the academics harder and need to work lots of hours to pay for school.