When I meet with students, I always ask them ‘”What colleges are you planning to apply to?” Since I am located in California, the inevitable answer is almost always the same; Stanford, Cal Poly, UCLA. Sometimes I get “The Ivies” but I have yet to have a student mention Pace, Clarkson, or Louisiana Tech. Unfortunately, when students select the schools of their choice, is not based on their research or introspection, but rather what they have heard of or what their friends tell them.
So why is college choice so important? There are lots of reasons students should spend time choosing the right college and there are many important factors including: Geography;-east coast or west coast and urban or rural; weather-sun or snow; size 2000 or 30,000; personal fit-social and academic. If students are unhappy with their choice, they may want to transfer or quit which extends their graduation time line and also their debt. But perhaps the most overlooked factors when selecting the right college are loan debt and future income.
Many students have their eye on a particular college and once admitted simply “Just say Yes” even before receiving their financial aid offer. Many times this is a mistake. Financial aid offers can sometimes be negotiated. If a similar college makes a bigger offer, or the student’s test score increases the college may be willing to pay more to get the student to attend their college. Not all colleges are willing to make a change in the award offer, but some are, and do. I know a student who improved his test scores in the spring of his senior year and his award letter was increased by $12,000 per year! Some colleges are more generous than others.
California students are often reluctant to get out of California and yet, for the most part, the more generous schools are not found here. If salary after graduation is important to you , it might surprise you to find some of the most unexpected colleges have the highest post graduate mid-career salaries. Among the top 25 such schools (Business Insider) we find only two California schools: University of the Pacific and San Diego State. (see the full list: http://www.businessinsider.com/most-underrated-colleges-in-america-2013-6?op=1) In addition, according to Kiplinger (http://www.kiplinger.com/printslideshow.php?pid=13221), there are only two California colleges ranked with best college values with the least amount of college debt; CSU Long Beach and Pomona.
So here are your three takeaways: be sure to include net cost as you shop for your dream school; look at post graduate salaries since that is the point of going to college; and for goodness sakes, consider somewhere out of California! Sorry, Mom!
