Are private or public schools better in the long run for pursing a degree program. For instance, my degree program that I want to pursue is Computer Science. I know that private schools are higher in tuition but have better methods of teaching than public ones. I also know that public schools are aren’t as high in tuition but the methods of teaching and faculty to student ratio aren’t as good since there tends to be more students. There are pluses and minuses to both paths, but which is best?
Depending on if you are self-driven or you like lots of care and support. If you like to learn by yourself, I would recommend public. Private can leave for graduate school.
Private schools while they cost more, tend to offer more financial aide. Apply to private and public schools that you like. Then play for sale to the highest bidder.
The best answer is probably “it depends”. There are a lot of very good universities. You need to find a university that is a good fit for you, that you can get admitted to, that you can afford, and that has a good program in your major.
Private universities do not have “better methods of teaching” compared to public universities. Classes can be large at both public and private universities. However, I have a daughter who is attending a public university and the first semester freshman year she had two classes with 15 or fewer students in them. Classes do not need to be large in public universities. I remember a graduate level course that I took (as a master’s degree student) at a very well known private university, where the entire class did not fit in one large lecture hall and so the class was broadcast live on a large TV screen in a second room. You can have large classes even at famous private universities.
If you happen to be from Michigan, California, Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, or many other states you will find that you have one or in a few cases several in-state public universities that have excellent computer science programs. I have worked with many excellent software engineers with degrees from U.Mass Amherst, and a few excellent software engineers with degrees from UNH, Rutgers, various Universities of California, U.Michigan, and U.Wisconsin. There are many other public schools like U.Washington that also have excellent computer science programs but I live pretty far from there which is probably why I haven’t happened to run into people that I know are from there.
If you post what state you are from, what your stats are, and how much you can afford for four years of university (usually listed as a per-year budget), then there are lots of people here on CC who can provide suggestions for good schools with strong computer science programs.
The top CS programs in the country come from a fairly even mix of public and private schools. Look for fit and affordability. Both OP’s preconceived notions are incorrect, so more research is in order.
if you can pay in state in California, North Carolina, Michigan, or Virginia that in the unlikely event you got into an elite private you would be at the top of your class at the state schools and very likely to succeed and probably enjoy school a lot. If your combined income is over 150K will not get much if any aid for a private school. Private schools in general work really well for very low and super high income levels (costs don’t matter). Not much/0 aid for >150K households. State schools don’s end up as well for people in the bottom half of the class that are not driven with no help outside of the school assigned counselor.
So it depends.
Some of these state schools also give small merit scholarships in later years to straight A students. So it depends. Statistically elite private schools work out best for very poor or minority kids, with no economic benefit to rich white males, and white women only benefit since the white women who go to elite schools prioritize work first and have children later, so their 10 year out income is higher but birth rate lower.
I’m from Houston, Texas, and I was looking around for various universities to attend. I was admitted to Lamar University (a public 4-year university in texas) and I was admitted to Regent University ( a private 4-year university in Virginia). Both have online bachelor’s degrees in computer science, but Lamar has a master’s in computer science that must be completed on campus.
So you are comparing online programs only, then? That could change the equation because those programs are usually much different from the on campus programs. Class size is probably less of a factor than for on campus classes.