<p>A big problem these days is getting into State U. I've looked at UMichigan, Penn STate, UGa, UFl and those are very nice schools with everything anyone could want. I worry about the bureaucracy, the big classes, the inexperienced, terrible TA, easy to get lost, hard to find a niche, but all in all these schools have so many amenities that "having" to go there is really a luxury, and if the kid can't make it there,...well At least I tell my self this. </p>
<p>However, some of these State U's are not schools that are easy admits. You have to be in the top half of the class or better. THere are SAT cut offs. And you had better get those apps in early. Many of these schools lament and admit that legacy kids who are better risks than their parents were are being denied these days with the selectivity getting way up there. I know my old highschool friend who lives in Ga could not get her 3.5 student into UGA. With the HOPE program, many excellent students who would may have gone out of state or private, are finding that UGA is a fine choice and are going there, driving the standards up. Georgia Southern where she ended up going, is not the same thing as the State U. A former teachers' college, its retention rate, part time and non traditional student composition, suitcase college, drab weekends,large number of adjuncts and the % who graduate in 6 years leave a parent to wonder if this is the right school. Not to mention the academic resumes of the students. Yes, there are good student, motivated kids, good profs there, but it is not something that will hit you as the place for your kid to grow up though it does happen there. When you get to schools like UDelaware, it is a real problem, because there is no Southern Delaware U if you don't get into the flagship. It's community college unless you go private, and that means a car, commuting and not experienceing the college life. Both cousins of ours who did go on to UDel afterwards, did not feel they fit in as transfers, and were not well prepared for the junior year courses, something UDel readily admits often happens as the prep courses at the flagship are geared towards a higher calibre student and are more in depth, an issue in many subjects. Standards for compositions and papers are higher too. If that step is too steep, it makes failure more likely. </p>
<p>Where we live, if you are a B/C student without the funds to go away to college, it means buying a car, paying exhorbitant gas (our tax is outrageous here), high insurance, tolls. If you want a reliable car and are not mechanically minded or connected, you can't buy a clunker if you don't want to pay through the nose in repairs and unreliabilty, and possibly safety as the roads get bad in the winter. So if you are going to commute, you pretty much have to get a job too. Without the campus life, college can be pretty drab if you are not academically directed, and the statistics show that the drop out rate at the comm coll is pretty high. These kids are often the ones who can most use the stimulus that a vibrant college community can offer to make that step up. That why I am looking for a college that provides this haven until my kid grows up a litttle more, and I don't think staying at home is going to have that impact on his maturity.</p>