Will "the college experience" become less important when choosing a college?

[1NJParent]

@ucbalumnus;d-2181964

Will “the college experience” become less important when choosing a college, given the shift to distance education forced by COVID-19?

Students and parents may feel like they are paying for college, or a particular college, for these general types of reasons:

A. The college experience. This includes course format (in-person versus distance, class size, use of TAs, etc.) as well as the surrounding experience (residential versus commuter, social environment with other students, activities near the college, urban versus suburban versus rural setting, religion, fraternities and sororities, etc.).

B. Academic content. This includes the overall curriculum, majors offered, courses available, and content of courses. It may also include whether majors have external accreditation or are focused on applicable licensing exams (more common in pre-professional majors like nursing, civil engineering, architecture, etc.).

C. Post-graduation effects. This includes effect on employment (types of employers, location of employers, alumni network effect, prestige), effect on graduate or professional school, and social prestige.

There has been a lot of talk recently about how many expensive private colleges are “not worth it” when all colleges are now essentially the same for A with all doing distance education.

Do you forsee A being less important only for this year, or will there be a more lasting effect where A is less important than it was before? How much of a premium will students and parents be willing to pay for one college over another be based on B and C, after eliminating or reducing the premium they are willing to pay for A?

I may be in the minority but I’d define “the college experience” somewhat differently. To me, the college experience is about the depth of interaction, both socially and academically, with your fellow students, and yes, professors. It’s about collectively working on problems and projects. It’s about building camaraderie. It’s about having the luxury of time and in fact the encouragement to think more deeply and profoundly about issues.

Based on these definitions, I’d still care very much about and value that singular experience in one’s life. Would I put it ahead of academics? Definitely not. To me, academics is what defines the college. Post-graduation results will come naturally and are the product of its student body, more than the college.