<p>Do small schools make it harder for students to graduate on time?
Look at the 4-year graduation rates of the 100 schools (mostly mid- to large-sized universities) in the Kiplinger “Best Values in Public Colleges” list. The range is 12% to 87%. Then look at the 4-year graduation rates of the 100 colleges in the Kiplinger “Best Values in Private Liberal Arts Colleges” list. The range is 42.6% to 91.3%. For private universities, the range is 29.8% to 90.5%.</p>
<p>Finances, family problems, and other personal issues are the most common reasons for not graduating on time. So the numbers on graduation rates are more reflective of student socio-economic status and the availability of financial aid than anything about the academic environment of the school.</p>
<p>Eightisgreat, did I read that correctly? The parents selected their kid’s college, with zero input from the kid? If that’s the case, IMO you can safely disregard any opinion they might have on the entire subject of college.</p>
<p>Re big vs small, we have the two extremes within our family. My gigantic public flagship was, to me, exhilarating and filled with endless opportunity but to my D, it was overwhelming and a little scary. She’s very happy at her tiny LAC which, to her, is intimate and personal. I would have found it stifling. Size matters, but there’s not a right or wrong answer. It depends very much on which environment is comfortable for the student.</p>
<p>You do have a point about class size, but I think the more common problem, especially at a large public, is having too many students wanting classes, not too few. And it’s true that the small schools have much more flexibility on this. When D was a freshman, one of her classes was supposed to be limited to 20. On the first day, 23 showed up. The prof looked around and said, “Well, I guess the class limit is 23” and that was that. If, say, 30 had showed up, he would have simply broken it into two sections. D says she’s never heard of someone being shut out of a class at her college. Small private colleges certainly have the advantage there.</p>
<p>The “giant state university for everyone in the entire state” (e.g. Arizona State) can be useful to a student who slacked off in high school but got serious about academics too late in high school to get into a more selective university. If s/he really is serious about academics now, s/he could get into such a giant state university and find an academically oriented peer group and a rigorous major of interest and do well there, leaving the slacker high school record behind.</p>
<p>But these same giant state universities also offer plenty of opportunities to revert back to slacking.</p>
<p>Also, a 2 hour plane ride, depending on how far you are from the airport, can be an almost all-day affair. I live an hour away from an airport. Factor in that , plus needing to be at the airport 2 hours prior to departure, and right there I’m already at 4 hours.</p>
<p>I would imagine that FOR SOME STUDENTS, bigger is better. For others, smaller is better. For some, size is irrelevant. It’s all about choosing what’s right for the particular student. To pick big without regard for the student is foolish. To comment on another family’s different choice is rude.</p>
<p>That said - my D picked a big university. She wanted big time sports, lots of clubs and activities from which to choose, plenty of academic choices and the ability to be anonymous if she so chose. Big state flagship doesn’t necessarily mean all big classes, though. Last semester (first semester freshman year), D’s class sizes were 15, 18, 20, 25, 35 and 75. And she’s had no trouble whatsoever getting into the classes she wants with the profs she wants.</p>