This forum was a great help to me a few months back when I had loan questions, so I thought I’d come back here to look for more advice.
My daughter has been accepted to several schools and I am looking for some feedback on the schools. We are hoping to narrow them down even further than we have already. We will hopefully makes visits soon, but can’t visit all of them.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
The COA on these are all different but we are able to handle any of them with her federal loans the scholarships that she has been awarded. Her CURRENT intended major is psychology.
She’s narrowed it to
U of New Mexico
Troy U
Florida State U
U of Alabama Birmingham
U of Alabama Huntsville
Louisiana Tech U
We are hoping to get feedback on the academic strength of the school as a whole, or any safety issues at the schools. If anyone can compare any of the schools, that would be great too.
I suggest using the website college data. You will be able to easily compare freshman retention rates and four year graduation rates, both good indicators of student satisfaction. You will also be able to compare demographics and see what percentage of professors have phD’s. Plenty of financial info too, such as what percentage of students have loans, etc… Look there first to start narrowing down.
Thank you, my daughter may have already looked at that. I am hoping for some personal advice from people here that may have visited any of these colleges. Or have kids there.
I will look at that though, thank you.
You may want to ask about UAB and UAH on the University of Alabama subforum. That subforum is for the flagship in Tuscaloosa, but there some posters there who have kids at UAB and UAH and might be able to give you some feedback.
@Lindagaf
Do you have an opinion on how important the 4 year grad rate is?
For example does this mean the professors aren’t engaged enough to help the students out, or could this be the students aren’t getting the needed classes to graduate?
The difference is HUGE…FSU has a 61% grad rate while Troy, UA Huntsville, and UA Birmingham are all in the teens.
If you can afford better, send your child to a school with a four-year graduation rate above 50%.
There are problems with how the grad rate statistics are gathered, so there isn’t necessarily any advantages to small differences between schools, but having a minimum acceptable graduation rate is a good idea.
When we were looking at schools, I didn’t put too much stock in the 4 year graduation rate, because there are many things that can affect that rate that simply didn’t apply in our case. My D attended the University of Alabama. 4 year graduation rate is below 50%. Yet my daughter and almost every other student I know there graduated in 4 years or less (exception being kids who did co-op).
I don’t know this for a fact, but my assumption when I looked at graduation rates was that they would be reduced by students who didn’t have the financial wherewithal to continue and left for financial reasons (or went part time and pushed back graduation for financial reasons) as well as students who were borderline academically when they started and either dropped out or took a longer time to graduate because they needed remediation or a reduced schedule or recovery classes. A school with a higher percentage of lower income students and/or a school that takes a chance on students with lower stats - and often your state schools are in that category - would be more likely to have a lower four year graduation rate. Of course there are many other reasons (excessive partying, health issues, family issues, inability to get courses when needed, changing majors, students planning to take more than 4 years due to coops or internships, etc.). But I think it’s important to try to look beyond the raw number and see if you can figure out WHY a low graduation rate exists. Usually if programs are impacted and it’s hard to get courses needed to graduate, you’ll be able to figure that out. If a lot of students are unhappy at a school and leave for that reason, you can probably figure that out too by looking at some online reviews or talking to students. However, if students are leaving for financial or academic reasons, and you know that your student has the financial means and the academic ability to finish in 4 years, the fact that the overall graduation rate is low is probably not all that relevant.
beth’s mom – I’m not sure why but I can’t @ you?? But anyway, thank you for that info, those reasons all make sense.
I also see that my daughter has ALL different numbers for the four year grad rates, which makes me wonder if they’re accurate and/or up to date. I’m having a hard time eliminating any of these!
Generally, and that is an important word, happy students have higher graduation rates. Post #9 raises good points. However, it’s worth considering all the factors that go into what makes students satisfied. Are they supported by good advising, tutoring centers, access to professors, good libraries, good financial aid from the college, lots of clubs and activities to keep students engaged and invested, interesting classes (and enough of them), and so on. Lower graduation rates don’t necessarily mean a college isn’t good, but it’s yet another factor in determining overall student satisfaction.
Graduation rates are necessarily a lagging indicator. The 6-year graduation rate reported today is based on kids who started school 6 years ago. Things can change in the intervening years regarding funding and other resources, and in the wider picture of the state and nation economy. I’m sure there was a spike in kids having to drop out due to the 2008 recession, for example.
This is why you need to look at grad rates broadly, but allow a certain amount of leeway. Your odds of graduating may be higher or lower than the statistical averages indicate, but when the rate is really low, that is a warning sign. Even if your student makes it to graduation in four years, will the students she started with be there with her?
Graduation and retention rates tend to track admission selectivity (stronger entering students are more likely to graduate, and on time). What may be more relevant are the rates compared to the rates that one would expect for schools of that level of admission selectivity.
As mentioned up thread, four-year graduation rates can come from many factors. Maybe co-ops stretch out the time to graduation. Or kids get locked out of classes that are oversubscribed and it takes longer to finish. For some of your possibilities, it probably is related somewhat to low income. Students may take leaves of absence or reduce their course load if they run out of money to pay tuition.
Is there a meaningful cost difference among the schools on your list? In terms of prestige, I think either of the UA’s or UNM would be your best bet if they are affordable.
Your daughter has probably done this, but looking at the specific course requirements for that major, course descriptions, even books (all textbooks or some interesting non-fiction and fiction books for instance), gen ed requirements, faculty bios and so on can really help.
It comes down to fit and “vibe” in the end. If she visited, which ones did she feel the most excited and comfy about?
I have heard of most colleges, even obscure ones, but I have never heard of Troy Univ. Unless it’s amazing, I would stick to schools that have at least some name recognition. You have lots of good choices there. Florida State, in particular has a good rep.
