Higher Education: America's Most Overrated Product?

Marty Nemko, a former college professor and long time educational consultant, makes no bones about it: He believes that higher education is America's most overrated product. Nemko, who is also the author of several books on college admissions, including The All-In-One College Guide, says that students and parents need to read between the lines of the marketing hype colleges put out in order to get the most out of college and maximize their educational investment. I recently had the opportunity to ask Nemko some questions about his advice for students and parents, and here is what he had to say.

In your writing and speaking engagements, you've frequently referred to undergraduate education as "America's most overrated product." How did you come to that opinion and why is it important for families to understand your point of view?
 
My PhD is in the evaluation of education, my having been a consultant to 15 college presidents, my experience as a professor at four universities, counselor to hundreds of college- and graduate-school-bound students all combined to make abundantly clear that the value-added that college provides for the time and money is obscenely low. The improvement in freshman-to-senior reading, writing, and thinking skills, let alone mathematical reasoning skill is frighteningly poor. Yes, a college diploma, especially one from a designer-label college can open career doors, but fact is, the Ivy-caliber student who attends an inexpensive community college for the first two years and then transfers to an honors program at their in-state state university will usually get a BETTER education AND have more career doors open because they're big fish in little ponds and therefore get higher GPAs, leadership opportunities, the chance to work with professors, and, in turn get great recommendations for grad school or leads on good jobs. Meanwhile, the family--unless low income and especially low-income minority and getting a free ride--will have saved a fortune.
 
You were a college counselor for 18 years and helped hundreds of families through the admissions process. What would you say is the most important thing parents can do to help their children receive a quality college education?  

Have them focus on having a high school experience that allows them time to explore vocations and avocations--even if their grades are a bit lower or their courses a bit less rigorous. Then, when they get to college, stress that the key to a great college education is NOT where you go, it's what you do there. At college, make the extra effort to get the best professors. Resist the one-sided leftist brainwashing that colleges, especially prestigious colleges perpetrate. The purpose of a college education is to get you to see multiple sides of an issue. Alas, too many professors believe their job is to turn you into a liberal activist. Despite what they say, not all wisdom resides left of center. Students need to search out the few conservative professors for balance. Outside of class, get involved in things: the student newspaper, radio station, photography club, student government, etc. Go to the college's career center as a FRESHMAN.
 
What are the biggest mistakes you think students and parents make in the college search process? How can they avoid those mistakes? 

They believe it's worth killing yourself in high school to get into a prestigious college and worth the family's money to pay for it. 
 
In my view, the worst choices in the nation, for most kids, are the large, not that prestigious private colleges, for example, Syracuse, USC, Tulane, Villanova, Boston University, Boston College, NYU etc.
 
What are the top three questions that students and parents should ask about every college on their list? How can they find the answers? 

What percentage of ALL freshmen (no excluded groups) graduate in four years?
Can I see the results of your most recent student satisfaction survey?
Can I see the visiting team report from your latest accreditation visit?
Do you test the students as entering freshman and again as seniors to assess how much they've grown in writing, thinking, etc?
 
What do you feel is behind the recent spate of media hysteria regarding college admissions? Is it really as impossible to get into a good college as the media reports indicate? 

Only the designer-label 50 or so colleges (out of a total of 3500 colleges in the US are ridiculously difficult to get into for white and Asian students.  As the number of college graduates increases, and more jobs for college grads are offshored, parents are freaking out and figuring (wrongly) that they better spring for the money for a designer-label college or the student won't get a good job after graduation. Fact is, making the most of the college--ESPECIALLY a college less selective than the student otherwise could be admitted to, landing and making the most of SUBSTANTIVE summer internships at quality employers, and/or learning the art of entrepreneurship, will do more to ensure a student's econimic viability than an Ivy label on their diploma.

Addiitonal Links:

We Send TOO MANY Kids to College, USA Today Editorial by Marty Nemko

Why Your Kids Shouldn't Go to Harvard (even if they could get in)