It’s no secret that many college students are finding it difficult to finish a degree in just four years. Sometimes students are primarily to blame in requiring extra time to graduate: they miss, drop or fail too many classes; they decide to take a semester off; or they decide, rather late in the game, to change majors or pursue different degrees. In some cases, however, the time it takes for students to earn their degrees increases primarily because of the colleges themselves.   How many times have we heard about a student who tried to get into a required class only to find out the class is enrolled beyond capacity and will not be available until a later date? And, even worse, what about the student who learns a required class isn’t being offered at all, and it’s the final class he needs to take in order to graduate? Both instances can set graduation back a semester, a year or even longer.

Many times, students who take a long time to graduate end up paying more for their degrees than originally anticipated, and sometimes they are even required to pay additional ”per credit hour” fees if they go beyond the expected graduation timeline.  But things may be changing in the student’s favor. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: College Search, college tuition, private college
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I spent my first two years of college at a smallish, private university with about 6,000 students, and my last two years at a large public university with around 30,000 students.* Were there differences? Of course, and most of the differences were related to the size and the resources of the school, not necessarily because one was private and one was public.

I graduated from my home state’s flagship university, University of Maryland, which meant I got to attend a great school at an in-state tuition price. It was significantly less expensive than the private university I transferred from— a total benefit of having a well-funded and impressive public school in your own state. But don’t be fooled into thinking that all public universities are inexpensive. Often the cost of tuition for in-state residents is discounted through government funding, but out-of-state students could find themselves paying just as much as they would at a private college. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: choosing a college, private college, public college
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