Selecting the right college or university can be a daunting task without a specific set of criteria to follow or questions to ask. In addition to personal priorities (location, campus life, sports, etc.) and the important issues such as teacher-to-student ratios, internship assistance, and career service counseling to help achieve academic success and land a job upon graduation, we covered five critical questions to ask in Part 1. In Part 2, we’ll cover five additional criteria to help you select the best school for your unique situation.
ROI: Will the numbers work? — The bottom line for all students is how much they’ll be able to earn once they graduate…and if it will be enough to repay the cost of the educatio For example, the Center for College Affordability reports that engineering and economics graduates typically earn almost double what social work and education graduates receive by mid-career.
One cash-strapped student recently graduated with $1,100/month private student loan payments, but her current job only pays $34,000/year. In another case, a music major, who might net an average of $50,000/year over his lifetime, was encouraged to borrow $270,000 for his education! The numbers just don’t compute.
When comparing potential salaries, there are two criteria to evaluate the average salary per graduate of a specific school: com: College ROI Report (click on the specific school for details) and the average salary paid for specific degree programs: com: Salaries per Degree
Before applying for a student loan, estimate college costs, how much you’ll need to borrow, and the projected income in your chosen field. Then go to FinAid.org to calculate monthly payments and determine if the numbers will work.
- What’s the student loan default rate? — Schools with a high student loan default rate (often referred to as the cohort rate) send a big red flag to prospective students that the school may be too expensive, the students may be borrowing too much, it takes too long to graduate, or that students can’t find a job upon graduatio To check a school’s three-year cohort default rate, search College Navigator or the Department of Education’s Cohort Default Rate Database.
- How are the schools rated? — Another factor to explore is the myriad Best Of rankings (best regional schools, best campuses, best schools for specific fields/industries, ). Carefully review the criteria used to create these lists; in some cases they are so subjective, they may not be of much value, but any information will help you become a more informed consumer. When thousands of dollars are at stake and your future career is at risk, it will pay to dig into the details. For more details on the validity of lists, see Do College Rankings Mean Anything? Here are just a few of the lists and sites to help compare schools. Some are free or provide only limited information, but others charge a fee for complete access. Many of the 10 questions in this post can be answered by several of the following comprehensive ratings lists: Money’s Best Colleges (free basic info; full access $24.95/year); U.S. News: Best Colleges (free basic info; full access $29.95/year); Princeton Review’s Best 380 Colleges (create a free account for basic info; buy the book for $23.99); 50 Best Online Colleges (free); 100 Best Colleges & Universities by State (free).
Caution: Again, evaluate rankings carefully. These lists are all different, so it’s important to look at the methodology each list uses to rank schools, their rating criteria, and if they allow “featured” schools.College Navigator — While this site won’t provide an external rating of the quality of a school, it’s a free government source where you can build your own table of preferred colleges to compare fees, financial aid, net price, programs and majors, and student loan default (cohort) rates.
- Will the school survive huge debt obligations? — In recent months, new regulations and overwhelming debt loads have caused more private and for-profit schools to struggle to stay Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban warns that this is just the start of the college implosion. This dramatic trend will not only affect current students, but graduates as well. A degree from a school that is no longer in operation can lose its value quickly. The Department of Education has compiled a list of schools with questionable finances or that may lose access to Federal Student Aid. Consider avoiding schools that don’t meet the 90/10 Rule, where more than 90% of their income comes from Title IV (Federal Student Aid) sources.
- What’s the mean SAT or ACT score? — This may sound like a trivial reason to select a school, but it’s actually an important stat to consid If the mean (average) SAT score is 1900 at the college or university, and yours is closer to 1500, what’s going to happen when professors grade on a curve? Just qualifying to get into a school could set some students up for failure, and could be a major reason they drop out. Go to CollegeSimply: Colleges by Test Score or CollegeBoard: Test Scores & Selectivity to find a school that matches your scores.
Learning the answers to these questions could save thousands of dollars, help achieve academic success, and improve your ability to obtain a job upon graduation. However, this is not a comprehensive list by any means; for additional key questions to ask, see Money’s How to Find the Best College for Your Money article. We hope these tools, links, and resources will help you make a smarter investment in your scholastic choices. Watch for more topics to help reduce the cost of college and maximize your career opportunities upon graduation.
