Decreasing in Quality
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Anonymous
+1 I could name a couple schools with sub $25 million endowments. They’ll survive |
Anonymous
| Pomona, for sure. |
Anonymous
I don't think UVA 4 year is closer to 90%, which is excellent. It is one of UVA's strongest points in USNWR ranking. I'd cut some slack to Berkeley (and more so schools like MIT) because they have more students in some difficult majors (e.g. engineering) that are tougher to finish in 4 years. Where is there proof that Berkeley and UVA are counting completions differently? The Common Data Set is supposed to make reporting more standardized. Niche has a question on whether students agree it is easy to get the classes you want. UCLA (top ranked public in USNWR) is only 32% positive, Berkeley is 39%, UVA is 50%. These are all well below top privates, but shows UVA with an advantage there. I think you should not send your kid OOS Berkeley or UCLA if you expect an undergraduate experience that is like what similar privates would be at the same cost level. You kid will get the same experience as in-state students, which is a stripped down model. These schools first and foremost focus on research and graduate programs. Undergraduate programs suffer in some ways for that. If you are OK with that fine, but you could argue you are getting a Honda in some respects for a BMW price. |
Anonymous
Endowment matters, but what is more important is how in demand the schools are. If a school has a substantial endowment, but are drawing it down and discounting heavily to get students, it is ultimately on an unsustainable path. The endowment helps buy time to get on a better path. Even public schools will be hurting. The states likely won't let them go under, but there is a massive revenue hit a lot of them have to absorb and state budgets are absolutely wrecked. |
Anonymous
Pomona decreasing in quality? |
Anonymous
That PP has an ax to grind, clearly. |
Anonymous
| I think many schools are decreasing in quality in the sense that they are completely bloated from an administrative standpoint (growth in administrators has been something like 3X faculty growth) and the schools have been shifting teaching loads from full time faculty to lower paid adjuncts at an alarming rate. There is huge waste in the U.S. system and Covid-19 is going to make schools finally take a look at it. |
Anonymous
This is due to CMU's strong encouragement of multiple majors with little overlapping coursework. |
Anonymous
| I don't know how someone has not mentioned UVA. Little STEM. The VA schools with strong STEM just keep getting stronger. |
Anonymous
Somehow LAC has become synonymous with expensive, non-STEM, and difficulty finding a job other than barista (and that was before Covid-19). In reality, most students at schools like UVA are in the school of arts and sciences. Students are top LACs major in STEM at rates higher than the national average, and if you look at schools like W&L, ROI and career earnings are right up there with top private research schools. Sometimes I think people have it in their mind that if they go to a public research school and major in social sciences or something like that, their kid's outcome will automatically be different than if they went to an LAC. That seems questionable logic to me. |
Anonymous
Harvey Mudd is extremely STEM intensive. That means a high cost structure, but also high earnings in many majors like computer science. If you are in one of those fields, it can still be a good value. |
Anonymous
This is such a weird/incorrect comment since UVa is a tier-one research university with extensive undergraduate and graduate programs in sciences, engineering, math, and medicine funded by vast funding and resources. If anything, the educational emphasis at UVa has shifted to stem fields in the last twenty-years to reflect the social/economic emphasis on these fields. |
Anonymous
There’s a possible yes and no to this. Because those schools also had a certain number of students who just came from families able to pay. Like the Ivy League, actually. So there were bright young women with no other options who could be very academic at these schools, and there were those who could pay. And sometimes, but not always, they were both. Right now, with options for limiting international students, they will probably miss some shining stars that came from underserved communities abroad.(and some full pays from abroad, too.) just saying: variety. |
Anonymous
UVA getting weaker? I'd argue UVA needs to increase percentage of students majoring in STEM. (And they are doing some things like the data science school.) It is well behind comparable schools in this regard. But not sure that means it is decreasing in quality. |
Anonymous
Pomona online is comparable to MIT or Harvard online courseware - free. |