Neither cost of attendance nor graduation rate figured into our comparison of colleges. By far the most important was the quality of the academic program, followed by what I called “atmospherics” – the academic and campus culture, the seriousness of the students, the involvement in the core campus (including students not mainly being commuters), the nature of the larger community or city around the campus.
If you look at perhaps a low tier (ranking highly impacted by graduation rate) you’re looking at sub 10% to the teens graduation rate but also benefit by the cheapest 4 yr college tuition in the state by a good margin (E.G. CSUs vs UCs). At these schools getting core bottleneck classes can be difficult delaying your graduation a couple semesters. So there you get to pit competing factors together… But if you come to the low tier loaded with APs unlike the normal student that goes to better colleges you rid the getting your classes problem completely because you have priority registration.
Since college graduation rates tend to closely track incoming student characteristics (academic credentials, traditional/nontraditional, etc.), this appears to be the dominant factor.
While such factors can impact graduation rates, they need to be considered in comparison to the expected graduation rates based on student characteristics. Note that another college-based factor, if the college attracts a large number of students from non-wealthy families, is how good the college’s financial aid is (affordability issues are among the most common reasons for dropping out of college), though that is more easily evaluated individually (with NPCs before application, and actual financial aid offer after admission, if admitted).
Average net cost means nothing - cost for your family is what you need to know.
For grad rate…one thing to consider is the effect on your kid of so many his/her first year friends washing out after a semester or year or whatever, as well as any factors that lead to that. S’12 had that experience, and it was tough. It can become acceptable to leave. IMO in his case weak to nonexistent advising was also a factor.
agree with ucb above:
if two schools are quite similar but one has a lower graduation rate, the statistics don’t lie. there is a reason. A high transfer rate will be reflected in a low graduation rate. also look at stats for ‘percentage of freshmen returning’. some schools are simply not enjoyable and students transfer.
As for FA - the term I always use is ‘financial friendliness’ and it is specific to the individual student. Best thing to do is utilize the NPC for a variety of schools. But the collegeboard site includes stats for different income levels, as does tuitiontracker.org
Affordability first, then grad rate. And I agree about looking to see what grad rate really means a school. Do many kids need a fifth year to get in all their classes? Is it difficult to change majors and that’s why kids take longer? Because they do a semester of work? Like engineers who work for a semester and then come back and finish? Or are there a lot of nontraditional students who are working their way through school?
I guess I don’t think of LACs as having such a problem with graduation rates. It seems like more of a big state U issue. I am taking classes at a big state U with a low four year grad rate. The U is very concerned about the numbers. Looking at my fellow students, I am less worried because I see so many commuter students and nontraditional students. They will get it done, just not in four years.
It does create a different environment on campus, however. There is a solid block of traditional students who live in dorms and join clubs and are focused on campus life, but there are lots of older students, post military students, and students with children. Class discussions are different than I remember from my days as a college student, not necessarily in a bad way. But I am not hanging out in the library and shooting the breeze with my classmates.
When my son was applying to colleges, including 3 LACs, the criteria for selection were:
Net Price Calculator
General Reputation/Ranking of UG Education Quality
CDS to be sure that my son’s scores are above at least 50%
Quality programs relating to my son’s major and EC’s (including concert halls and sports facilities, etc.)
Endowment per Student
Teacher to Student Ratio
Pedagogical Dedication to UG (e.g., Oxford-Style Tutorial, Preceptorial Method, etc. with direct access to faculty)
Dorms (Residential Style) and Dining quality
Safe Location and Environment
Semester or Quarter System
Campus Culture and Diversity
We didn’t rank any of these. Only after the application results were in, we looked more specifically at these factors and chose a couple schools for actual visits.