Colorado College missing enrollment targets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because in their little social bubbles going to a lac is more prestigious than, say, Penn state or Villanova. They’re all going to be future attorneys or finance bros, so they see going to a lac as better prep for law school or Wharton. In Moco, I know cc is seen as an acceptable backup for wasp.

This is very true. We belong to a club in NE and most SLACs, including places like Bucknell and Dennison, are much more socially acceptable than a Villanova, PSU or really any state school except maybe UVA and Michigan.

[Anonymous]

These second tier SLACs are facing the same issue second tier private national universities are- everyone wants to pile into the very best college according to some arbitrary ranking or notion of prestige.

So the top colleges get more and more applications, admit ED more and more, and the Groucho Marx theory of any club that will let me join isn't one I would want to be a part of, kicks in.

Look at the enrollment issues of Occidental, Colorado College, American Univ, Denison, etc.

I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because in their little social bubbles going to a lac is more prestigious than, say, Penn state or Villanova. They’re all going to be future attorneys or finance bros, so they see going to a lac as better prep for law school or Wharton. In Moco, I know cc is seen as an acceptable backup for wasp.

This is very true. We belong to a club in NE and most SLACs, including places like Bucknell and Dennison, are much more socially acceptable than a Villanova, PSU or really any state school except maybe UVA and Michigan.

Denison seems like an interesting place to go to school, but the fact that so many people will misspell it "Dennison" is a major turn-off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These second tier SLACs are facing the same issue second tier private national universities are- everyone wants to pile into the very best college according to some arbitrary ranking or notion of prestige.

So the top colleges get more and more applications, admit ED more and more, and the Groucho Marx theory of any club that will let me join isn't one I would want to be a part of, kicks in.

Look at the enrollment issues of Occidental, Colorado College, American Univ, Denison, etc.

I

The enrollment numbers are fine for Denison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because in their little social bubbles going to a lac is more prestigious than, say, Penn state or Villanova. They’re all going to be future attorneys or finance bros, so they see going to a lac as better prep for law school or Wharton. In Moco, I know cc is seen as an acceptable backup for wasp.

This is very true. We belong to a club in NE and most SLACs, including places like Bucknell and Dennison, are much more socially acceptable than a Villanova, PSU or really any state school except maybe UVA and Michigan.

Serious question. What does this mean in practice? Do people segregate associations by school attended or is this more some type of social capital?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Someone doesn't understand the social power of the NESCAC among upper class families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because in their little social bubbles going to a lac is more prestigious than, say, Penn state or Villanova. They’re all going to be future attorneys or finance bros, so they see going to a lac as better prep for law school or Wharton. In Moco, I know cc is seen as an acceptable backup for wasp.

This is very true. We belong to a club in NE and most SLACs, including places like Bucknell and Dennison, are much more socially acceptable than a Villanova, PSU or really any state school except maybe UVA and Michigan.

Serious question. What does this mean in practice? Do people segregate associations by school attended or is this more some type of social capital?

Bourdieu enters the thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We looked at CC, but we’re a full pay family and the lack of merit aid was surprising. I think of CC’s competitors as being schools like Whitman, Oxy, Macalester - all of which give higher merit awards. DS may still apply to CC because merit aid can change year to year and there’s no way to know before he applies, but I’m not optimistic. Skidmore is another example of a relatively average LAC that is need aware but doesn’t offer merit aid and so is losing out on full pay families. You would think schools that are tuition dependent would want a student whose family might pay $75K (but won’t pay $95K).

I think a lot of families are in a similar position - yes, we could pay full tuition, but we’re not going to without a good reason. There are a lot of families that will full pay for an Ivy or Top 10 LAC, but if it looks like their kid is headed to a midrange LAC, they are going to steer them to one with more substantial merit.

I totally agree with this! We are also full pay and have a rising senior. Will absolutely chase merit - going to try hard to avoid full pay unless a tippy top school (HYPS or maybe one of top LACs) (kid is usual dime a dozen 4.0 UW/zillions of APs/1550 SAT/varsity athlete/solid but not tippy top ECs except an outstanding artist). Costs are just out of control and you feel like you are getting ripped off paying 100K/year.

+1, also completely agree with this perspective. We are fortunate enough to have the resources to pay full price at whatever college our children want. But as a matter of principle, I'm reluctant to pay 100k year for all but the very best brand names in higher education (pretty much Harvard, Yale and Princeton at this point), especially if I'm not convinced that my child's educational and career plans will not immediately benefit from the outlay (e.g, wants to work on Wall Street, is fully committed to the hustle). For kids that are still "finding themselves", exploring their interests, or pursuing careers like medicine or regional legal practices where the state university graduate schools will suffice, I'm simply not going to pay more than 50 or 60k max for a LAC- especially when I know that paying the 100k sticker only goes to subsidize the social justice wish list of progressive/liberal admissions officers and college administrators. 50-60k works out to be competitive with OOS tuition at good state universities + room/board/living costs/ greek dues, so I think that's about the market level net price for good quality SLACs these days. The bottom line is that SLACs are essentially an upper middle class/upper class luxury product, more or less as they have always been.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Uh, the east coast snobs all went to Williams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We looked at CC, but we’re a full pay family and the lack of merit aid was surprising. I think of CC’s competitors as being schools like Whitman, Oxy, Macalester - all of which give higher merit awards. DS may still apply to CC because merit aid can change year to year and there’s no way to know before he applies, but I’m not optimistic. Skidmore is another example of a relatively average LAC that is need aware but doesn’t offer merit aid and so is losing out on full pay families. You would think schools that are tuition dependent would want a student whose family might pay $75K (but won’t pay $95K).

I think a lot of families are in a similar position - yes, we could pay full tuition, but we’re not going to without a good reason. There are a lot of families that will full pay for an Ivy or Top 10 LAC, but if it looks like their kid is headed to a midrange LAC, they are going to steer them to one with more substantial merit.

I totally agree with this! We are also full pay and have a rising senior. Will absolutely chase merit - going to try hard to avoid full pay unless a tippy top school (HYPS or maybe one of top LACs) (kid is usual dime a dozen 4.0 UW/zillions of APs/1550 SAT/varsity athlete/solid but not tippy top ECs except an outstanding artist). Costs are just out of control and you feel like you are getting ripped off paying 100K/year.

+1, also completely agree with this perspective. We are fortunate enough to have the resources to pay full price at whatever college our children want. But as a matter of principle, I'm reluctant to pay 100k year for all but the very best brand names in higher education (pretty much Harvard, Yale and Princeton at this point), especially if I'm not convinced that my child's educational and career plans will not immediately benefit from the outlay (e.g, wants to work on Wall Street, is fully committed to the hustle). For kids that are still "finding themselves", exploring their interests, or pursuing careers like medicine or regional legal practices where the state university graduate schools will suffice, I'm simply not going to pay more than 50 or 60k max for a LAC- especially when I know that paying the 100k sticker only goes to subsidize the social justice wish list of progressive/liberal admissions officers and college administrators. 50-60k works out to be competitive with OOS tuition at good state universities + room/board/living costs/ greek dues, so I think that's about the market level net price for good quality SLACs these days. The bottom line is that SLACs are essentially an upper middle class/upper class luxury product, more or less as they have always been.

Perfectly said. Except paying 100k you are subsidizing the social justice wish list at HYPS as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because many of the east coast snobs send their DCs to SLACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because many of the east coast snobs send their DCs to SLACs.

If they care so much about east coast name recognition, go to a top university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because in their little social bubbles going to a lac is more prestigious than, say, Penn state or Villanova. They’re all going to be future attorneys or finance bros, so they see going to a lac as better prep for law school or Wharton. In Moco, I know cc is seen as an acceptable backup for wasp.

This is very true. We belong to a club in NE and most SLACs, including places like Bucknell and Dennison, are much more socially acceptable than a Villanova, PSU or really any state school except maybe UVA and Michigan.

Serious question. What does this mean in practice? Do people segregate associations by school attended or is this more some type of social capital?

It means that they get the benefit of the alumni networks at these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because many of the east coast snobs send their DCs to SLACs.

If they care so much about east coast name recognition, go to a top university.

Yeah, but it gets way back. IYKYK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CC is a great, but is not a name brand on the East Coast. If you love Colorado, it might be worth it, but there are many similar colleges closer to the east coast population centers. Anecdotally, I see mostly private school kids going there whereas many other LACs including Claremonts, NESCACs, Liberty Leagues and Midwestern ones have students from both public and private schools

This is a weird comment. Why would someone obsessed with East Coast snobbery go to a liberal arts college at all? At best, Williams is known by some, but you are better off going to the various medium sized privates across the east coast. Second, undergraduate prestige is mostly bs and doesn't carry nearly as much as the regional strength of brands like HBS, YLS, Stanford Med etc.

Because many of the east coast snobs send their DCs to SLACs.

If they care so much about east coast name recognition, go to a top university.

Yeah, but it gets way back. IYKYK.

^^^goes