<p>Boy, this whole thread has really crystallized the essential reasons my daughter is looking only at small LACs, and the reasons that is the only college education I will pay for. TAs, GAs, whatever you want to call them … there’s no way I’d spend my hard-earned cash or her hard-earned scholarships to be taught/graded/discussion-led by someone who’s just a couple years and classes down the pike. Fortunately, there are enough excellent small LACs with outstanding, seasoned profs (who are hired on criteria that include their ability to teach, by the way, not only their ability to do research and write books) that we won’t have to make that compromise. And no, these schools are not all upwards of 50K. Many are in the 25-40 range, incl R+B with generous scholarship dollars available.</p>