My child has been accepted to Colorado College. I really like the block plan and the campus is quite nice. My concerns is about the wealth and drug culture. My child will not have the funds to take fantastic block break vacations, and my concern is that she will spend breaks alone. We visited during a break and the school felt like a ghost town. This happened to be during a Federal holiday weekend so perhaps this was unusual? Do kids just hang out on weekends, or is there social pressure to take cool trips as much as possible? Thanks!!
There are a lot of wealthy kids at CC, but plenty of free things to go around Colo Springs too (hiking, Garden of the Gods, Manitu. Oh, go ahead and climb Pike’s Peak - it’s only 13 miles up!
I’m sure your child will be invited to explore different places in Colorado with roommates and friends from around the state.
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We are wondering the same thing. We are lower middle class, CC is 1500 miles away from home, so he won’t be able to come home over block breaks. CC’s financial aid was generous enough to make it equally affordable to our state flagship university, so we are strongly considering it. He loves the sounds of the Block plan. I am a little concerned about the drug culture, but I read that there are options for substance-free dorms on campus. We are hoping to get a better feel for things at the Accepted Students event this weekend.
as a parent, i can totally understand why you would worry about the drug culture of a campus. however, part of the understanding needs to be that, at most colleges, there is a drug culture (whether it be predominantly alcohol-related or other substances). trust that she’s knowledgeable enough to know what is right for her! she’s only eighteen, but if she’s smart enough to get into CC, she has a good head on her shoulders.
now, onto the wealth culture. students at CC are pretty renowned for being rather wealthy as you stated. this article was posted around 4-5 years ago, so it might be outdated (as most if not all of the students who were at CC when this was published have now graduated), but the new york times reported the average family income of a student at the college (at the time) as being ~$278,000. that’s rather exorbitant, and it’s what turned me away from the school because i felt as though i might feel out of place (for reference, the same report showed the average family income of a student at the undergraduate school i ended up choosing as being ~$157,800 less than at CC).
one thing i urge you to do is get into contact with current LI students** and ask some hard-hitting questions (but in a nice and respectful way). what do students do during block breaks? are there people who stay at the college who can’t go home? what is the FG/LI community like at CC? will she have trouble feeling out of place due to her socioeconomic status? do students try to make it seem as though they are “hiding” their wealth? what is the relationship like between students who are LI and students who are wealthy? how, in general, do they feel CC is supporting LI students, and in what ways are they doing so? these are all just sample questions, of course, and it’s a non-exhaustive list that i used when choosing between colleges!
** i say LI students because i feel they will be more candid and open about their experiences, which is really crucial. i know CC is a questbridge school, so perhaps trying to find QB scholars via instagram or other social media outlets would be helpful, as being contacted informally by a student is more comfortable than being asked by an administrative official to share your experience(s) that may or may not be part of their job to do so.
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Parent to former student here. D2 is substance free. She never had any issues with finding other substance free people with the exception of MJ. MJ is generally everywhere, as it is in most colleges anywhere at this point. It’s equivalant to alcohol in its prevalence. Noone ever cared if she used - not a barrier. In terms of block breaks, many people (including her) stayed on campus over block breaks - the pace of blocks is fast and can be intense, so my guess is that they were inside relaxing. As an aside, our daughter was invited to participate in the program that started two weeks early primarily designed for QB scholars. We were never sure why she was included as she wasn’t a QB scholar - it was a bit mysterious. It was a lot of fun, and the finance class offered during half block through this program was excellent. She’s a great money manager, and learned a lot of great tips in that class.
These are good questions to be asking, and we are still working out the kinks around the appetite for out-of-budget block break experiences, but my observation is that there are a lot of options, including fun activities on campus (kids typically do NOT head home, except for longer breaks > a week or two), funded activities organized by the college, relatively affordable things like camping trips, etc. I would brace for it being an ongoing conversation, because the population IS overall affluent, but we’ve found the culture to be welcoming and no more “substance” infused than any other college ever. It helps that the trend is towards outdoor activities and exploration, rather than, say, clubbing and fine dining. Kids can make that work at whatever level is feasible.