If you live in a state with a good flagship with comprehensive programs, why would you pay more to send your child to another school that has the same or a lower ranking?
Specifically, if you live in the following states, you can send your child to pretty well-regarded state universities:
California: Berkeley or UCLA
Michigan: U. of Michigan
North Carolina: UNC Chapel Hill
South Carolina: Clemson University
Virginia: U. of Virginia
If you can do that (i.e., if your child gets in), why would you send your child to a comparable school if you have to pay more to do so?
For example, North Carolina has a large private university (not Duke) that’s ranked about the same as UNC-Chapel Hill. South Carolina has one private liberal arts college that’s ranked about the same or below Clemson. Why pick those other schools if you’re in-state?
Further, why would you pay more to send your child to a lower-ranked school, such as one of the many small, regional liberal arts colleges in those states, if your child can attend the good state university at lower cost?
I understand that a lot of times, other schools have generous financial aid that results in the cost of the private school being less than that of the good state university, but that’s not the situation that I’m asking about; I’m asking about sending your child to a more expensive other university that’s no better, or even lower-ranked, than the good, comprehensive state university.
Because rankings don’t take into account whether the educational environment is a good fit for the student.
Often a smaller, private college can be a more personal and more intimate learning environment for a student who might get lost at a flagship. Life isn’t one size fits all. For my kids, the money is worth it.
What’s the point of making money if I can’t enjoy it by getting the satisfaction of sending my kids to where they think they will fare the best.
Some people believe it’s good for a kiddo to study far away from home. I know lots of Californians who sent their kids to school on the East Coast even though the kids did get into good UCs. My daughter went to school in Boston even though U of Colorado, Boulder was her safety. She didn’t relish going to college 45 minutes up the road from where she grew up.
I don’t know of a good reason why you would pay more even if your state flagship isn’t UMich, UNC Chapel Hill, or another of its ilk.
When our kids were applying to colleges, my husband told them that if they could get into our flagship state university but they wanted to go to a lower-ranked school that cost more, they needed to have a good reason why (for example, a better program in their intended major). As it happened, the situation did not arise with either kid. But it could have.
However, nobody in our family – not my husband and I and not either of our kids – was attracted to small schools. Maybe if someone had an interest in small schools, we would have felt differently.
small LACs are a whole different environment from big flagships. It can be a MUCH better fit for many students. Full-disclosure, I went to Swarthmore and my son is going there now.
Ranking isn’t the only indication of value or strength. Some schools don’t play the numbers games to keep their rankings high (e.g., aggressive marketing to bring up numbers of applicants for the same number of spots). Some of us don’t feel that there’s much of a qualitative difference between school #30 and school #50 on any one ranking system.
On top of that, even if you could say, “overall, University A has a stronger program than LAC B”, for a given kid, a smaller and more nurturing environment with professors who are all about teaching over research might be a better fit.
Kid is direct admit to a desired impacted program like CS or Nursing at another institution with reasonable costs and would have to apply later at state flagship.
It cost marginally more for our daughter to attend a private university 2000 miles from home instead of the state flagship less than 10 miles from home, but the school she attended is much smaller and the school-within-a-school program in which she was enrolled was a wonderful academic, social, and emotional fit for her.
SUNYs don’t have the rah rah that many kids crave and location of the state school can also have a negative appeal. My husband grew up poor and also feels like classic rocker dad that it is his absolute pleasure to allow his kids a choice in the matter. By the way, he went to a SUNY and turned out just fine for those parents who can’t give their kids a choice. It’s not the end of the world!
I went to the state flagship and was happy to do so. But I liked being able to hide in the last row of huge lecture halls during my first two years of college. My daughters preferred small classes.
I guess I feel like the whole attitude of a) get a degree- check b) in a “good” major- check c) at a decent college- check is a kind of sad way at looking at an undergraduate degree. College can be a lot more than that.
Because, while the 6 year grad rate at the state flagship is really good, the 4 year certainly is not! Some of the smaller, private, albeit lower ranked LACs, have 4 and 6 year grad rates that are nearly identical. When thinking about the possibility of a 5th or 6th year (and both my kids changed or added majors freshmen year), suddenly, state flagship may not be such a bargain.
OP, there is no guarantee that every student who applies to his or her state flagship will be admitted. That certainly includes the flagships you listed. I specifically counsel my students to include privates on their lists because of the competition for certain publics, which can equal or exceed the competition for many privates.
Big huge lectures with hundreds of students vs small, discussion-based classes where papers are assigned (and actually graded by the prof herself, not some upperclassman or grad student) and writing,speaking, and critical thinking skills blossom.
Profs who are primarily there for their research, and for whom teaching undergraduates is often considered an annoyance; vs profs who are at a college because they WANT to teach undergrads.