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A Better Way: Part 7

The following, in my view, are top-value colleges. In addition to a relatively low sticker price, they score well, on average, on these criteria: student quality, location, a campus culture that welcomes true diversity of ideas (not just politically correct ones), and a name that opens career doors. The larger institutions, which I've starred, do suffer from being research-first/students-second institutions, but their low price and desirability on other factors justifies their inclusion.

* Rice: A Big-Oil endowment has created an Ivy-clone college at half the price.

* UCLA: The honors program is a patch of Ivy at a State U price.
Mary Washington College: Like a small private college at a public price--in a Jeffersonian setting an hour from D.C.

* McGill: A great city (Montreal), strong students, and the Canadian 69-cent dollar makes McGill a deal.

* University of Toronto: Easier to get into than McGill.

* Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. California weather, excellent students in its strong majors (e.g., architecture, engineering), $1,500 annual tuition. Safe, quaint town.

* University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: Good students, ideal location, great basketball tradition, bargain price.

* University of Virginia: Top students in a Jeffersonian setting replete with colonnades and rolling lawns.

* Santa Monica College: A nearly free two-year college that feeds many students to UCLA and Berkeley. Near the beach and L.A.

You can save the money on undergraduate education without shortchanging the child. That way you'll have money left for graduate school.

A Better Way: Part 6

What to Do in the Meantime

An expensive college simply isn't worth the money. The definitive review of the literature (Astin, 1997) finds absolutely no relationship between a college's cost and the amount of learning that accrues. And a study in the American Economic Review concluded that even in terms of earnings, "What matters most is not which college you attend, but what you did while you were there. (That means choosing a strong major, choosing professors carefully, getting involved in leadership activities, getting to know professors)...Measured college effects are small, explaining just one to two percent of the variance in earnings." A more recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (Krueger & Dale, 1999) produced similar findings: when controlling for student input variables, an Ivy League education confers no economic advantage on its graduates.

This makes sense. Sure the designer-label on an Ivy diploma opens career doors, but put an Ivy-caliber student at Podunk College, and she can accrue benefits that fully compensate. For example, although my daughter was admitted to prestigious Williams College, she turned it down in favor of an easier-to-get into public institution that cost 70% less. There, the honors program functioned as a patch of Ivy, small classes with Ivy-caliber students taught by top professors. Honors extracurriculars extended the elite experience beyond the classroom. Perhaps more important, as a top student, she was taken under wing by professors, got appointed to university-wide governance committees, and got touted for terrific post-college opportunities--she spent a year in the White House writing Hillary Clinton's daily briefings. If she had attended Williams, she would likely have been lost among its many top students--and we would have been nearly $100,000 poorer.

So, unless your annual income is under $40,000, which would make you likely to get significant cash (not loan) financial aid, or are too wealthy to care, your child should apply to colleges with a low sticker price. He will learn as much, you'll save a fortune, and you will spare your child the inordinate stress and waste of time (studying for the SAT, waking at 3 AM to do crew because it will look good on college applications) of trying to get into designer-label colleges that well may not be worth the money and effort.

A Better Way: Part 1

Here's my vision for what colleges should do.

Use Virtual “Teachers”

Today, in most of the nation's 3,500 colleges, introductory courses, for example, Introduction to Biology, are taught primarily by an instructor, good, bad, or indifferent, lecturing to students umpteen rows away. You can often get a decent grade just by cramming for a midterm and a final, even though you'll have forgotten 3/4 of what you learned within days of semester's end.

Imagine that instead, you logged onto your home computer to find one of the nation's best biology instructors teaching Intro to Biology, using simulation and demonstration equipment far too expensive for most colleges to afford. You could replay any parts of the lecture you wanted, and at any point, you could click on words that would provide a fuller explanation of what the professor was saying.

After each 30-minute instructional unit, you would take an interactive quiz. You'd participate in simulations and other experiments online, using equipment for free that you couldn't possibly access in the real world. Even the classic frog dissection could be done online. Think of all the hassle, blood and gore that would be saved--not to mention the millions of frogs lives. Another benefit: the nation wrings its collective hands about the lack of minority instructors. Choose a minority instructor for the program and many thousands of students derive the benefits of having a minority biology instructor.

Using interactive teachers wouldn't completely replace the human instructor. Small classes and office hours would still be provided in person. But the large lecture, that boring vestige of the Middle Ages, so often blown-off by students who download lecture notes, would be replaced by interactive and virtual teachers, an approach that would enable every college student, rich or poor, to receive world-class education at a fraction of the cost.

Maximizing Your College Education Investment

The price of four years at a brand-name state university is approaching $75,000. At a brand-name private college, close to $200,000. And most students take more than four years.

With the possible exception of your home, your child’s college education is the largest purchase you’ll probably ever make, especially if you have two or more children. How do you maximize the value of your investment?

Choosing a College

These recommendations integrate the research findings from the Carnegie Foundation combined with my own years of experience as a college and career counselor.

If your child is Ivy caliber and aspires to a career that insists on a designer-label diploma such as investment banking or corporate law, it’s worth paying even the sticker price of an elite private college such as an Ivy or Stanford and certainly the price of an elite public institution such as Berkeley, UCLA, or the University of Virginia. While these schools have large classes taught by research- rather than teaching-focused professors, and these schools can be pressure cookers, the lifetime income and status gains are typically worth it. In addition, students grow a great deal from spending four years around the nation’s best and brightest.

For most other Ivy-caliber students, for example, those aspiring to be physicians, executives, public-interest attorneys, or other careers in a non-profit or government agency, the best payback probably comes from attending an elite public university. There are ample opportunities for challenge by taking difficult classes and honors programs, and the Ivy-caliber student at these institutions will stand out and thus be tapped for campus leadership positions, opportunities to work one-on-one with professors, which in turn, leads to great recommendations and leads on good jobs.

One client I had, for example, turned down Williams College, one of the nation’s most selective to attend UCLA that cost 75 percent less. There, as a brighter star among lesser lights, she stood out and so got leads into a job working for the White House. If she were at Williams, she probably would not have reaped such an opportunity.

If, however, your family income is less than $50,000 a year and are admitted to an elite private college, your child should probably go. In that case, you’ll probably get enough financial aid to justify it.

If your child is not Ivy caliber and your family income is under $70,000, a small private college probably is the wisest choice. You would get little financial aid at a public university and significant aid from the better and well-endowed privates such as Grinnell, Santa Clara, Guilford, Beloit, College of Wooster, and St. Johns (MD and NM). At such institutions, your child will be taught by dedicated accessible teachers in classes small enough to provide detailed feedback on writing assignments, and to require your child to be prepared for class lest he be called on and left dumbfounded. The campus culture at these institutions is also good for promoting student growth as human beings.

If you have a not-Ivy-caliber child and your family income is much more than $70,000, the balance generally tips in favor of attending one of your state’s well-regarded public universities such as Indiana University, Wisconsin-Madison, Penn State, Oregon State, and the Universities of North Carolina and Washington. Consider in-state schools because out-of-state tuition is usually usurious. Why State U? Because for families earning more than around $70,000, the private colleges will offer little aid, and there are ample benefits of the public university: larger choice of courses and professors, more clubs, library and athletic resources, a bigger alumni network. You might ask, “But shouldn’t we decide whether our child should to a large versus small college based on whether he’d feel comfortable in a large college? With a bit of guidance (provided below) it is easy to make a large university feel small and homey enough.

A word about large non-elite private universities such as the Universities of Southern California and Miami, and Boston, Syracuse, and Tulane Universities. These are rarely worth the money. Not only are they nearly as expensive as an Ivy without the prestige, the most frequently taken classes are usually large and taught by research- rather than teaching-oriented professors. If you’re going to spring for the money for a non-elite private college, small one are usually wiser choices.