Publication date:
20 June 2017Length of book:
138 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781475808810
Each year over a million newly-minted high school graduates enroll in four-year colleges and universities across the country. They do so often after a lengthy and almost always stressful selection process. Faced with growing evidence of declining standards, rising political correctness and spiraling costs, families feel more powerless than ever before – and question whether a college degree is really the key to the American dream. What is a parent to do? This book provides an answer. Higher education expert Anne Neal offers families a concise guide to finding the right college. Rejecting the notion that reputation is everything, this guide offers insightful chapters on curricula and teaching, campus and dorm life, freedom of thought and speech, and affordability – issues that are more and more in the news. Families are given a handy checklist of questions designed to help them zero in on key issues of quality and cost to ensure a college program that will provide the skills and knowledge needed for success after graduation.
Every prospective college student and parent should be grateful that Anne Neal wrote this book! She shows clearly how to evaluate the school itself and not just the nice brochure: how to find out what is – and is not – actually taught in classes; the real deal on financial aid; why to avoid “party schools” altogether; how to find out if actual faculty teach courses or whether teaching is routinely handed off to doctoral candidates, and more. No one should invest four years or more and tens of thousands of dollars or more without Ms. Neal’s expert guidance.