Three Signs You’ve Found a Good College

College is expensive. Choose wisely.

As a student, I only knew the world of very wealthy private schools (like my Alma mater, the University of Rochester). State schools are a squandered and abused national treasure that have not been a part of my career.

Instead, I have spent time in the world of private not-so-wealthy schools. These are wonderful places, particularly good for undergraduate education. I am proud of my association with the Torrey Honors Institute and The King’s College program at The Saint Constantine School.

These are good places and I recommend them. Why? These programs specialize in a broad, general liberal arts education that prepares a student for anything. They are also highly individualized. However, private not-so-wealthy schools often cost a good bit of money (though TSCS does not).  How do you know you are getting good value?

There are many ways to judge theology (if you are looking for a religious school), academic quality, or campus culture, but all of them can be misleading. Schools need students and so they tend to trumpet the good and ignore the bad.

Here are three signs that your private, not heavily endowed school is run well.

1. No NCAA. 

If a small school has the money for NCAA sports, then they should have very few adjunct professors (adjuncts are mostly part-time, poorly paid teachers). Find out if your school can afford the sports it offers. You will know by the number of general education classes taught by part-time teachers.

NCAA sports costs big money and return little to most schools. A few students at smallish schools will get excellent athletic scholarships (this can be good), but at the cost of the rest of the student body.

If you are not Notre Dame or State U, then the tuition of non-athletes is paying for games they often do not attend and that do not help them get a good education.

2. No adjuncts teaching vital classes. 

If a college sells you on their Bible requirement, then most of the courses offered should not be taught by part-time, underpaid teachers. Instead, look for schools where if you ask: “What percentage of the general education classes are taught by full-time professors?” the answer will be “under twenty-five percent.”

Outside voices are great, so it is not always bad to hire part-time teachers, but too often these hires are really a way to save money on the very thing you should want: teachers and scholars teaching you. 

They exist: Torrey Honors, The Kings College (NYC) and the program here in Houston. There are others. Find them.

3. No grad programs in areas where jobs are already scarce for graduates of top schools. 

Strong graduate programs in well-endowed schools can be a sign of strong undergraduate programs. Sadly, in small schools, the lure of the prestige of “doctoral” (often not even Ph.D.) programs comes at the cost of funding for undergraduates.

In such schools, undergrad programs make the money and grad programs are subsidized by undergrad students and low wages for teachers. Do not pay for somebody else’s graduate education, especially one that only adds to the glut of graduate degrees.

There are great small not-so-rich schools out there other than the ones I have mentioned. Find them.

Here is a way you can help me: please send me the name of any NCAA, tuition-dependent college (not heavily endowed) with multiple academically sound grad programs. I want to promote those leaders!

We are in a time of educational change. Many colleges that have existed for decades may not exist much longer. Be careful not to pick a school that is an iPod just before iPhones.

Rachel Motte edited this essay.