Advantages of the private college experience

I had never considered sending my child to a private college. Too expensive, for one thing. And it didn't seem to make much difference to me whether the degree was from this university or that college.

But she went anyway. Not because I chose it, or even because I could afford it.
She went to a private college because it was her dream and her scholarship-getting venture was a success.

So now that we've experienced private college firsthand, will I encourage the next sibling to choose one? Perhaps. There are definite advantages.

The first advantage I noticed was class size.

Even in the freshman and general education classes, class size is comparable to most high schools, rather than the lecture-hall size classes many remember from their university days.

Our first visit to the college included sitting in on two classes, of which we were able to choose the subjects. The economics class had about 20 students. The foreign language class had only 15, with plenty of interaction between the professor and students to facilitate learning the language.

Small class size lends itself to a mentoring relationship.

On the day we left our freshman at college, we were able to meet the professors who would teach the freshman English class. It was taught in block style, so that the same 30 students met for two courses (English and Ethics) with two professors in a team-teaching style which included out-of-class activities as well as in-class discussion. The professors explained to us thoroughly their approach to team teaching, and not only were we able to ask any questions, but we were given a syllabus of the course and got to know the personality of these two professors who would be the guiding influence for our students for the first months of their college experience.

This sense of mentoring the students, rather than simply teaching them, is seen in many other areas at the college. Students may get help at the writing/tutoring center; they have residential advisors (fulltime faculty, not just students) to assist them.

When one student discovered that she just wasn't making it in her foreign language study, the faculty counseled her in finding another major and juggled her schedule to help her make the switch. When another student with special needs applied for housing, he was assisted in finding an understanding roommate. The dean of students is actively involved in the lives of the students, often meeting for coffee and a chat about students' goals and concerns.

The private college experience - for us, at least - has become a mentoring experience for our student, not just a classroom of impersonal lessons.

Alumni involvement

Finally, possibly because of the smallness and this mentoring relationship between faculty and students, the college has an excellent relationship with its alumni. And when you have successful alumni who love their alma mater, you often have more money poured back into the school in the way of new buildings, attractive campus, cutting edge equipment, and scholarship money.

Is it worth it?

After considering these advantages of private college to university schooling, is the higher price tag worth the differences?

That's an answer only the owner of the wallet can answer.

But if your student is a strong scholarship candidate and is offered good money to attend a private college, then you may never need to answer that question. A good scholarship at a private school can make the bottom line comparison an easy read. For us, the final price tag was not much different. But the difference in the college experience is huge.

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