Guest Author Blog: 10 Questions to Ask About a College (Which Aren't on the Usual Lists) by Claudia Dreifus co-author, Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids—and What We Can Do About It
"Higher Education" by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus
As Andrew Hacker and I began researching our book, “Higher Education?” we were struck by how few questions parents raised when considering the quarter of a million dollar investment that four years at a private college or university could cost them.
This was, probably, the second most expensive purchase they’d make in their lifetimes; yet many decisions seemed to be based on the familiarity of the brand name or the attractiveness of a campus.
After three years of researching our book, these are the questions we’d ask, if we had a high school student at home:
Guest Author Blog
1) Does the college make undergraduate teaching its first priority?
Schools like Harvard and Stanford have almost twice as many graduate students as they do undergraduates, and its the graduate students that command most of the professor's time and attention.
2) Is the college overrun by administrators?
Yale has 1050 full time faculty members and another 7013 people in nonacademic jobs. So ask: Is it primarily a college, or is it a multiversity festooned with extraneous functions.
3) Will professors actually be there?
During a recent year at Williams College, a third of its professors were away on leave. Your daughter may find that her senior thesis supervisor is on sabbatical in Bologna.
4) What's the president's salary?
Increasingly, it's nearing or more than $1 million. This is a good index of whether a school has chosen a corporate model. Decide whether the person at the top looks and sounds like an educator.
5) Who teaches the freshman?
It may be a star professor (however, the odds are against it). But at most name universities your son will be in the twenty-sixth row, with a fledging graduate student handling the discussion section.
"Unless, the family is wealthy or the youngster can land a full-ticket scholarship that genuinely is that, the elite private institutions are probably best avoided."
6) Can you walk in for water polo?
At many colleges, athletes are recruited beforehand by coaches, so others find the rosters are filled. At the University of Illinois, only 2% of its undergraduates are on teams. The rest have to settle for being spectators.
7) How much emphasis is on athletics?
Small Birmingham-Southern College has a ninety-man football squad, supervised by eight paid coaches, while its History Department makes do with five professors. Its softball team plays thirty-four games in a ten week season, half of them away, leading to missed classes.
8) Does the financial-aid office level with you?
Today, what's called aid is usually a discount on the sticker price or, more likely, a loan. Does the college spell out what the actual interest charges will be, what happens if payments are deferred, and how old your children will be when their debts are finally paid off?
9) Does it resemble a resort?
Five story climbing walls, gigantic Jacuzzis, food-court chefs specializing in chicken Dijon—all comes under what used to be called room and board. But it also diverts funds. And helps explain why so many of your child's classes will be taught by low cost adjuncts and assistants.
10) Does prestige pay off?
Some parents (even if not you) want their offspring to be successes in life. Hence they aspire to a college with name recognition. But ask for evidence: Do Dartmouth and Duke degrees really loft you to the top? In our book, we looked at the long-term achievements of one Princeton class. Considering the huge advantage these Ivy Leaguers had at the starting gate, their attainments, for the most part, were not all that remarkable.
After so many years of researching this American Way of Higher Education, we’ve come to believe that when parents are selecting a college for Jennifer or Jason, their primary target should be a school that permits their child to graduate debt-free. That means thinking creatively and forgoing dreams of luxury or prestige.
Unless, the family is wealthy or the youngster can land a full-ticket scholarship that genuinely is that, the elite private institutions are probably best avoided.
Instead, parents might consider the honors college at their in-state public university, or even the first two years at a community college, many of which are staffed by dedicated professors who like teaching. Families might also consider a commuter school—$40,000 to $100,000 can be saved by taking the subway.
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Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus are the co-authors of Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids—and What We Can Do About It
Have a book suggestion, email me at bullishonbooks@cnbc.com — And follow me on Twitter @BullishonBooks