<p>Something I’m curious about is why some people decide they need to pay $30,000 to go to some in-state private college when they could go to a state school for $5,000 a year - and the state school is ranked better in nearly all aspects!</p>
<p>Do they shell out the extra $25k simply because they do not want to participate in the large college atmosphere and don’t necessarily care about that additional $100k their parents now owe? WHY pay such a higher price for (according to these rankings you guys post) a sub-par education in relation to the bigger state schools?</p>
<p>Why should there be a sub-par education in a small, private school? While large state schools may be ranked higher, these small schools can provide far smaller classes that can educate better than 200 people in an auditorium. And small schools can have different programs than state schools, such as Reed’s senior thesis, and different emphasis, such as Colorado College’s artsy feeling. </p>
<p>Not to mention private schools may provide better scholarships. </p>
<p>I personally don’t want to go to such schools, but I understand people who do.</p>
<p>First, you are assuming that all state schools are good. There are those of us who live in states with lousy state schools.</p>
<p>Second, many state schools cost more that $5,000 even for in-state students, never mind the OOS costs (which would include travel). My state’s flagship costs over $16,000 when all fees & expenses are added in. True, less than a private, but the differential is smaller.</p>
<p>Third, you assume that all students can learn equally well in the same environment. Many kids prefer the give and take of smaller classes to the lecture style of large ones (and at small schools the discussions are lead by professors, while at large ones, the discussions sessions are often lead by grad students). They would be lost in large lectures.</p>
<p>That’s why some of us parents are willing to shell out the bucks.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The college experience is probably the most important experience and msot memorable of a person’s life. If he/she wants to pay an extra 25k a year for that experience for 4 years then that is up to them. </p></li>
<li><p>Scholarships and financial aid make schools affordable. People going to Rice for example often pay less than if they went to a state school like UT Austin. </p></li>
<li><p>You have a point about the mediocre private schools but it is no secret that the best education comes from private schools with famous professors and great academics + attention. Examples: Princeton and Dartmouth for ugrad as well as Williams and Reed. </p></li>
<li><p>Special majors such as Business, Engineering and premed often require a top private school. Though some top publics are good in such majors a lot of the time privates just offer much more.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1) Though everyone in this thread so far seems to understand the uselessness of college rankings, it should be noted that liberal arts colleges and large state universities are NEVER compared to each other. They are ranked differently, and so saying that one is “ranked higher” than the other is ridiculous.</p>
<p>2) Small private colleges, especially those without as much name recognition as some others, offer extremely generous merit aid that is designed to come out cheaper for the student than a state school. Kalamazoo and Hope in Michigan, for example, are known to make the cost of attendance for top students around $12,000 - just slightly cheaper than Michigan State and U of M.</p>
<p>3) Some people understand that small classes with lots of professor attention are important to learning. Some thrive in this environment and fail in lectures.</p>
<p>These are just a few of the literally countless reasons to choose small vs. large colleges.</p>
<p>IF your intention is just to get a BA so you can get a job that requires a BA, I can see where an LAC would seem like a colossal expenditure.
You can certainly get a good education at a large university, I don’t think anyone is saying you cant, but for instance my daughter had a high school graduating class of 18, she was first generation college, is gifted with learning challenges. An LAC supported her, as well as challenged her. It was a better fit than the universities that we looked at.</p>
<p>The students who are attracted to LACs, are looking for a more intense experience, generally. Some have even termed them “prep schools for graduate work”</p>
<p>If you think along those lines, you might be interested to know that in 15 different categories of the highest percentage of students who recieve a PHd the schools that are most often represented are
Caltech
Harvey Mudd
Reed
Swarthmore
MIT
Carleton
Oberlin
Bryn Mawr
U Chicago
Yale
<a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html[/url]”>http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html</a></p>
<p>1.) More diverse student body
2.) More Housings + Greek System (But more students so i guess they cancel each out)
3.) Cheap tuition</p>
<p>Reasons to choose small private institutes (aka the LACs):</p>
<p>1.) Small classes, more individual attention
2.) More scholarship</p>
<p>Really, it depends where your value holds.
If you care more about meeting people of different cultural background, building up network, partying while not paying such heavy tuition, big public schools are for you.
If you care more about getting individual attention from professor and more private advices/academic assistance in a quiet calm environment, LAC may be the place for you.</p>
<p>Big public schools = Good for Social purpose
Small private schools = Good for more individual-focused academics</p>
<p>But this is just in general.
some big public schools may have excellent research program with small classes while some small private schools may be a total party school. There’s always the exception .</p>
<p>Why small schools? Cause my kids can go for free!!! yea no student debt!!! </p>
<p>Publics aren’t that cheap anymore and have next to nothing to give a good student. In both cases had my children picked the public over the private they would have held alot of debt after four years.</p>
<p>Small class size, classes taught by professors are pretty important when your learning is leading you into the job market.</p>
<p>you couldnt pay me to go to a huge school; i hate feeling like a number. the real question should be, why would people go to nyu, gw, or bu when they can get the same experience at a large public, for a fraction of the cost?</p>
<p>I got hardly any aid from the state schools I applied to. And I got much bigger scholarships for the private schools I applied to - mainly Rice. These expensive private schools can afford to give away huge merit aid.</p>
<p>And saying the state schools are ranked higher…well maybe by departmental rankings, which really only apply to graduate schools. Look at the top 20 USNews colleges all of them are fairly small private schools. These schools have good undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>Well it’s the free market economy. If you can afford it and want it enough, then people will pay it. Scholarships make up for the fact that most people can’t shell out that much.</p>
</p>