Students attending low-cost universities may discover that getting from university to home requires many forms of transportation, such as buses to regional airports.
They may also live in cultural and climatic conditions that they do not prefer. Students attending low-cost institutions may be required to live outside their comfort zone.
4. They do not appear on the first page of search results.
The most significant disadvantage of attending a low-cost college is that it is unlikely to rank among the top 50 in the US News College Rankings.
Of fact, this is most likely the main reason why most families have never heard of it. Students choosing affordable universities must ensure that the college satisfies their academic and social needs, which are not the same as national rankings.
It is much easier to just glance at a number on a ranking to determine which college is superior. Students at low-cost universities must often conduct more research to determine what works best for them.
The question is whether the $10,000 or $15,000 savings are worth the extra time and effort. The worth of trade-offs. Students who attend low-cost universities must ultimately make trade-offs.
Students investigating economic universities have chosen against colleges that try to convince them that their school’s reputation is precious.
Take note of the fact that none of the four issues mention quality. Rankings and reputation are related to perceived quality.
Consider this: if it were so simple to demonstrate that kids who attended more costly institutions with brand name recognition earned more money or got better employment, wouldn’t they have done so by now?
After all, research is what many of these colleges do. However, all you’ll find in opinion books and university visits is anecdotal evidence.
Thinking about where their savings are going can help some people deal with the issue of affordable college. It may be about having a decent retirement for parents.
For students, the money might be used for graduate school, study abroad, relocating costs after graduation, weddings, or a down payment on a property.
Of course, for any of these things to be appealing, students must study how much money they will have after graduating from an affordable college versus one that isn’t.
And if you’re not prepared to do something so simple when so much money is at stake, you probably aren’t the affordable college kind.