College Considerations

No single college is right for everyone. The campus your closest friend loves may be wrong for you. Work through the questions below honestly, and your list will reflect what you need.

Size

Size will affect almost everything about campus life. 

• A small college (under two thousand students) will give you small classes and professors who learn your name by October. 
• A large university (above fifteen thousand students) will give you a wider catalog of majors and a busier social calendar, though an introductory lecture there can hold three hundred people.

Location and distance

Distance from Benton shows up in two places, your travel bill and your comfort. A college within a few hours by car lets you come home for a weekend without much thought. A college across the country hands you independence and a clean start, along with a heavier travel cost and far fewer trips home.

Then there is the setting itself. An urban campus drops internships and city life at your door. A rural campus trades that for quiet and open ground. A suburban campus splits the difference. Be honest about which one keeps you steady for four years, because the wrong setting wears on a person.

In-State and Out-of-State

For a Louisiana student, the in-state choice mostly comes down to money. Public universities here bill residents a lower tuition rate, and TOPS pays at every public college in the state and a number of private ones too.

Things shift once you cross the state line. An out-of-state university charges the higher rate, and TOPS stays behind in Louisiana. A few of those schools counter with scholarships for strong applicants, and a generous one closes much of the distance. Price out all four years of the out-of-state option anyway, before you call the move worthwhile.

Public, Private, Two-Year, and Four-Year

Each kind of college exists for a different reason. A public university draws its funding from the state and tends to enroll more students at a lower in-state price. A private college lives on tuition and its endowment. It usually costs more before aid. Yet a private college with a deep endowment will sometimes award aid generous enough to drop the net price below a public option.

A two-year college grants an associate degree along a cheaper path. At Bossier Parish Community College you can clear your general courses close to home, then move those credits toward a bachelor’s degree. A four-year university grants the bachelor’s degree outright. Undecided about a major? Watching the budget closely? Give the two-year route a serious look.

Academic strength in your field 

What a college is known for overall counts for less than how strong it is in the subject you intend to study. Pull up the department that would house your major and read through its course list. Look into the faculty teaching there. Find out what research or hands-on work actually reaches undergraduates, rather than the doctoral students alone.

Give some thought to how a college handles students who show up undecided, since a good share of them switch direction during the first year. Strong advising and a wide range of majors let you change course without forfeiting a semester.

Cost

Cost belongs near the middle of this decision, not off in a corner. Use the net price calculator on each college’s website to estimate what your family actually pays once aid is applied. That figure can land well under the advertised price, or uncomfortably close to it.

Weigh four years, not one. A college that costs a little more each year can leave a heavy debt load by graduation. A college that covers more of your need with grants instead of loans may be the wiser pick, even when its advertised price looked higher at the start.

Graduation and retention rates

Two numbers tell you how well a college serves the students already there. The retention rate is the share of first-year students who come back for a second year. The graduation rate is the share who finish a degree within six years.

Healthy numbers suggest students settle in and finish what they started. Weak numbers are a warning worth chasing down before you apply. A student who needs a fifth or sixth year pays for that extra year in full.

Campus culture and student life

For four years, this place is your home and not only your classroom. Weigh the parts of campus life you actually care about. Athletics, the arts, faith groups, clubs, Greek organizations, all of it varies sharply from one campus to the next.

Louisiana students may also want to look at the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Grambling State and Southern University each carry a community and a tradition of their own. Whatever ends up on your list, visit if you can. An afternoon tour or an overnight stay shows you an atmosphere no website ever quite captures.

Support services

Take a hard look at what a college puts behind its students. If you have a learning difference or a health condition, make sure the right services are in place before you enroll, and ask precisely how to arrange them. 

Make a comparison chart

Once the list takes form, build yourself a simple chart. Colleges down the left side, these factors across the top. Fill in what you learn, one box at a time. A vague pile of impressions turns into a clear side-by-side view, and the final call gets much easier to defend, to your parents and to yourself.

Questions

Call Benton High School at 318-759-2580, or visit 449 Fairburn Avenue, Benton, Louisiana 71006.