Reply to Good Article on the Value of Public Colleges and Universities

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Good Article on the Value of Public Colleges and Universities"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]
As a parent whose two older daughters attended a combined five colleges for undergrad and graduate degrees and a husband who taught at a college, I would suggest that parents may want to do some careful research on just how much the words "Professor and Teaching" actually go together.  Now "Professor and Research" certainly do for the college's bottom line.  It is important not to just take the campus tour, but to go when classes are in session.  See if you can talk to students in your child's interest area in terms of what is the size of their classes - do they always remain large or do they get smaller as one focuses on a major?  Who is teaching the classes - mostly graduate students, mostly adjuncts, professors who do not have a good command of English so it may as well be a foreign language?  Walk around department mid-week when classes should be in session and try and get a feel for how many faculty are on campus, in labs etc.

With the increase in tuition even at second and third tier colleges, it is very important to know what your teen will be getting for the big bucks AND possibly the loans one is taking on.  If you have a lot of money and need not worry, then this suggestion need not apply.  However, if college is going to be a stretch for you the parent(s) to pay for and even more importantly going to be a financial reality in student loans for your son or daughter, put a little more time into what one is going to get than what the college "is selling."

In STEM fields, the question to ask "Have the undergraduate classes grown in size" so that in-state students as well as out-of-state students' tuition and debt are covering the costs of graduate school students AND are the preponderance of graduate students foreign born.  In many case your student will be paying for a foreign student who will then be better prepared to compete for your son or daughter's future STEM job.  The last word you often hear on a campus is "undergraduate."[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics