Forbes Best Colleges 2015

xiggi
Tue, 11 Aug 2015 19:50:06 +0000

^ Well, Circuitrider, I appreciate the additional comment and I’d like to add a few more.

If you check what I wrote earlier, please note that I included a small caveat with the qualifier “real LACs.” While some might disagree, the focus at such schools is not to be research institutions. Some might disagree because among the LACs there are a few exceptions in the form of hybrid products with a reasonably large graduate programs, very large LACs a la Smith or Wesleyan, and some that have a pre-professional angle.

Without having spent much time looking at the budgets at numerous LACs (I really only looked at CMC and Wesleyan for good measure) I think that both schools fall in a separate category. You are obviously familiar with research at Wesleyan, and I believe that the higher figure at CMC is a direct result of the very dynamic research institutes at CMC that fund numerous self-directed projects of students and faculty. Such institutes are an integral part of the education at CMC and I think that the school is considering the funding (direct or through donor) an essential part of its … different offering.

Again, I happen to think that schools that are part of consortia are able to have a slightly different focus and uses of resources than the rural and isolated LACs.