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Choosing a School: Other Factors
Obviously those looming tuition bills are high on your list of considerations as you get ready to pick a school. However, there are several other considerations that may also impact your decision.
Finding the Right School
Like any other purchase, the "right school" depends upon what you and your child want and need as well as what you can realistically afford.
In addition to those tuition bills, here are some other factors that may impact your decision:
What are your goals?
- First, take an inventory your child's long term goals. Are there schools that may help your child achieve those goals?
- Does he or she have singular talent or burning desire?
- Is there a subject your child wants to major in? What colleges are well-known for that major?
City Slicker or Country Type?
- What environment will help your child bloom? A rural school or bustling city center university?
- Maybe you prefer a small school where everyone knows everyone, or you like the opportunity and anonymity that a major university provides.
- Would your child prefer being close to home or would they like to blaze their own trail far from home? What is the impact to the transportation budget
Is your Child a Social Butterfly?
- Would he or she prefer a school that offers a robust social life, or will they do better in a more studious school.
- Is direct contact with the professors important to you, or is it OK that you’re part of large classrooms with limited contact with the professors.
Make a Plan
Once you discuss these types of preferences with your child, you can come up with a plan and start selecting schools. The school you get accepted to depends on your child’s grades, standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, and other factors that make your child stand out from the crowd.
Now that you've considered these questions, it's time to make some new decisions:
- Decide on a "safety" school, that is, one that your child is certain to get into but is not necessarily the most impressive school for a future career,
- Decide on a "reach" school, one that would be difficult to get into, but would be prestigious or otherwise very desirable to make an impression and good contacts,
- Decide on a few schools that are in a reasonable range, that is, your child probably has the grades, test scores and so on to get in, and the schools would provide a very good value for your money.
While it takes a lot of money to pay for college, money is not the only factor to consider when picking the right school.
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