This is a segment of Bautis Financial’s college planning series, which includes webinars, podcast episodes, blog posts and downloadables to aid college-bound students and families in the admissions process. Visit our college planning hub for more valuable resources.
For most families, money is the biggest consideration when it comes to higher education. Because of that, we must forget the idea that the schools with big brand names are worth applying to or enrolling in.
Are the most prestigious schools really necessary if you have to pay $300,000 for a single bachelor’s degree? Here are some steps you can take to make a smart college choice – a good education that won’t break the bank.
Related: How to Build a Better List of Colleges Using Safety, Target and Reach Schools
Step 1: Be Skeptical of Rankings
Families tend to lean heavily on the U.S. News & World Report rankings to determine what colleges to apply to and enroll in. However, simply picking the school with the highest ranking, or in the top 10, is not smart because it can lead to overpaying.
While U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of colleges appear to be highly accurate, they can be misleading in certain respects. First, schools must meet their criteria to be ranked, and over 400 colleges are “unranked” within the four categories they identify:
- National Universities
- National Liberal Arts Colleges
- Regional Universities
- Regional Colleges
It’s also worth noting that U.S. News specifically states that you shouldn’t compare the rankings of two colleges in two different categories, as seen above. Because the schools are in different categories, it isn’t logical to make a direct comparison. So, for example, the school that’s ranked #20 in the National Universities category is not objectively better than a school that’s ranked #22 in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category.
The rankings emphasize graduation/retention rates and academic rigor over quality of student life. On the U.S. News website, it states: “over time, the ranking model has put less emphasis on input measures of quality – which look at characteristics of the students, faculty and other resources going into the educational process – and more emphasis on output measures, which look at the results of the educational process, such as graduation and freshman retention rates.”
While the components of the rankings are important to assess when considering a given college or university, good fit is key. After all, a student’s experience in college is largely based on what they do at whatever school they end up at – not the institution’s success in an of itself.
If you want to read more about the trouble with U.S. News & World Report rankings, Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Order of Things” is a great resource.
Step 2: Focus on the Department
It’s important to understand that schools are not monolithic. A school isn’t uniformly great or average or mediocre, and there are tremendous differences in quality among academic departments.
When building a list of colleges to apply to, students should research the academic department(s) that interest them the most. It might be that the communication major at the cheaper school would be a much better academic experience. The student shouldn’t just guess.
Step 3: Consider Career Prospects
Parents and prospective students increasingly want to know about career success and Educate to Career, a nonprofit website, is a phenomenal source for this information. You can type in the name of any college and pick a major and see what the average beginning salary is for that major at that school, along with the most common occupations. These are not self-reported figures, the data comes primarily from government sources that data scientists have teased out.
Step 4: Consider Graduation Rates
In evaluating finalists, a school’s graduation rate is worth looking into. It’s important for the family to determine the likelihood of a student completing the degree in four years at each school. The graduation rates for individual colleges at College Results are updated the most frequently.
Step 5: Estimate Graduation Success
It is also critically important to make sure that students will be able to actually graduate in their major. There is a great free tool that Educate to Career offers, which predicts success in a major based heavily on GPA.
Step 6: Rethink the Elite Schools
The notion that the nation’s most elite schools are the only gatekeepers of a successful and prosperous career is stubborn despite plenty of evidence that this is absolutely wrong. Read “Does It Matter Where You Go to College?” from The Atlantic to learn more.
Step 7: Explore Price Carefully
Ideally, you used the net price calculator before your child applied. With that information, you need to have a serious conversation about whether you can afford the price and if it’s worth the cost.
Related: How to Use Net Price Calculators
Not all net price calculations are accurate, especially those from state schools, so it’s important to be cognizant of sticker prices. You can access that quickly by heading to CollegeBoard.org and pulling up a school’s profile. Click on the school’s “Paying” link.
The Bottom Line
Your family will be in a better position to make the right choice if you truly do your homework and don’t rely on emotions or the lure of name-brand schools.
Begin your journey of mastering the college admissions process with Bautis Financial. Whether you’re a parent or guardian, student or school counselor, book a free consultation to discuss how our financial advisors can be a college planning resource.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy is a nationally recognized college expert, higher education journalist, consultant and speaker.
Bautis Financial Advisor Commentary: October 21, 2022