<p>Anecdotally - I went to a small private and a friend went to the State U. Our experiences were night and day. My professors would work with me if I had a question; Xerox material if I had to miss class; my advisor worked with us very closely; other professors helped me out with career options. I told that to my friend, who was amazed - he had TAs teaching classes, professors would could barely speak English, professors who were apathetic to student success; you name it. He would ask for help and not get any help - they would not try to work with him to get him to understand the material and work through whatever mental tangle waws there. End result: I loved my education and felt that it was four years of my life that I would love to do over again, the exact same way. He felt as if he wasted a lot of his life and sees the engineering education as useless - feels that he could have learned more with an apprentice-ship type system.</p>