Reply to WaPo's Wonkblog: "Private colleges are a waste of money for white, middle-class kids"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It really depends on how you define middle class, what caliber of student, and financial aid decisions.  Many of these private colleges have huge endowments and give a lot more financial aid than would be available at a state school.  I'm white, middle class parents, and went to a small liberal arts school for far less than it would have cost me to attend a state school.  [/quote]

My school gave me a lot of financial aid.  And I love having a liberal arts education. I loved living in a residential setting at an LAC for four years. It wasn't just about getting a major and a career; it was about becoming educated.

I think state schools do a great job teaching kids material in their majors, but they aren't always good thinkers across a broad range of topics, and they aren't educated in a well rounded way. [/quote]

State schools have the same classes that small LACs do. Kids at state school take History and Philosophy and they think about all the problems in the world too. [/quote]

They take some of the same classes, but those classes aren't integrate into a whole curriculum in the same way. They aren't living in the same type of residential "community of scholars."  They don't make the connections between fields in the same way.

I've taken classes at state schools. They are excellent in their majors, but they don't train thinkers. It's just not the same. [/quote]

Oh for crying out loud.  They certainly are doing all of the above.  Many state schools have an integrated curriculum, residential honor colleges, and cross-field connections a-plenty.  It's a myth to say that kind of learning environment is only found at a private college.  [/quote]

They try, but they don't it as well or as extensively. I've met very few state university graduates who can hold a candle to graduates of LACs, even from mediocre LACs. My LAC devoted 1/3 of the curriculum to the major, 1/3 to LAC requirements, and 1/3 to electives. That meant that students were less intensively educated in their majors, but more broadly educated in general. Many, many students took a double major in a science and a humanity. (biology and Latin, physics and philosophy,  etc.)  Students also have the opportunity to design their own majors, under the guidance of a professor and with approval from the college. Other students took the opportunity to explore subjects that interested them.

BTW, small LACS also have graduation rates that are quite a bit higher than state university graduation rates. They also have a shorter time to graduation.  For a kid that is headed to graduate or professional school, it's best way to go. [/quote]

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