Selecting College and/or University.

How to select a college in an insane era

By Dick Berkowitz

It is a fairly universal agreement, until Biden, President Jimmy Carter was the worst president in our nation's long history. One of his administrative "failings" was revealed when he was Georgia's Governor.  He was a control freak. He just could not let go because he had to have his hand in everything. 

Carter appointed one of my dearest Atlanta friends to a high post and he left after less than six months.  I asked him why and he said Carter was the lousiest administrator he ever knew.  

Carter also established America's Department of Education. 

Obviously, Jimmy thought, if the Government controlled education, it would improve matters.  Once again, he mistakenly did not believe the saying; "what government touches it ruins and often destroys.  Johnson had his War on Poverty, Obama allowed Iran to inch toward becoming a nuclear nation, Biden made America and the entire world  worse in everything he has touched. George W went to war without understanding Islamic tribal differences and hatreds and the Middle East is akin to a "Tar Baby.". 

Now that higher education is financially out of reach for more aspirants and fewer believe a college education no longer has historical merit how does one go about selecting even if they want to go to college?

As a parent of five, all of whom went to college, ( three of the five went beyond getting more education) I told them I would let them choose schools they thought were suitable and upon graduation they would not owe anything beyond their debt to society.

Even though my personal wealth is larger now I could not make such a commitment today because education costs are off the charts. Furthermore, the cost of prep schools is more than college back when they went and the purchasing power of the dollar has shrunken because of inflation and mindless spending.

Once the Federal Government created the Pell Grant loan program etc. colleges and universities raised tuitions and  became less concerned about student admission losses. Furthermore, due to their growing dependency on student federal loans and research grants while the government intruded more social legislation, administrative hires exploded raising educational costs even higher.

Hillsdale College did something unique. They did not like the government telling them what courses they should or could not teach because  many of their students were attending on federal borrowings so they ran a campaign which substantially increased their endowment.

Hillsdale now will pay the tuition of any student they accept where there is an unmet financial need. Hillsdale is a conservative small liberal arts school in Michigan.

The College on whose Board of Advisors I served (St John's College, otherwise known as The Great Books College) recently reduced their tuition to an acceptable level which has allowed their student body to expand and their financial operation no longer runs at a killing loss all due toa generous challenge gift by a former "JOHNIIE."

So, in view of the above, what unsolicited advice would I give parents and their progeny in selecting a college?

At a very minimum, I would advise the following.  

As a parent you are making a large investment and should, as Reagan said, trust but verify.

I would allow your child, perhaps with the advice of a counselor, to make their school selection unless their choice was cost prohibitive.

Second, I would also explore certain parameters such as:

a) The ratio of administrators would have to be within reason.

b) There would be no history of student's taking over administrative offices.

C)  The school president's role must go beyond simply raising funds  and there was no history similar to recent incidents at so many IVIES.

d) As for the faculty, I would want to assure they were sprinkled with some youth and not all radical liberal types. Inquire what educational backgrounds the faculty actually had.

e) I would like to know about the school's endowment and how they have managed it, their historical returns and whether there was exceptional funding from the Middle East.

f) I would also want to know the racial and or ethnic mix of the student body and how they handled any anti-Semitic incidences, if any.  This would be true regardless of the student applicant's religious affiliation. Lack of faculty backbone is disruptive for all students and overall campus tranquility.

If you seek a war zone Join The Marines.

g) Obviously visit the campus if possible, walk around and ask students questions. They are your best information sources.

h) There are other inquiries relating to housing food, medical facilities. Today, parents have a bit of leverage because schools have begun to seek and place emphasis on the serious minded productive type kids and want to avoid, if possible, obvious troublemakers. Schools are not above searching applicant social postings etc..

I once interviewed potential students for The University of Pennsylvania, my own Alma Mater. Times were different in the 50's.  Far less sophisticated and penetrative. The focus was more on records, grades, essays board results than the student.

The 50's was a more tranquil period and then all hell broke loose in the 60's.

Hope my own travails and experiences as a father of educated children has been of some benefit.

++++