Investing in a college education is a very important life decision. While we are advised to select about 8 schools to research and eventually apply to, the guidance available refers to college size and location. But there are so many more areas to pay attention to when researching colleges, such as graduation rates, cost of attendance, net price, tuition discounting, debt, remedial education, quality, program offerings, etc.

I have been working in colleges and universities for more than a decade. During this time I learned that colleges can be opaque and esoteric, even though their main goal is to help as many people as possible. I’ve learned that:

• college costs go way beyond tuition and fees
• the vast majority of students need 6 years to complete a bachelor degree and about 40% of them never do
• the quality of a college/university is hard to determine, but there are other ways to evaluate it than rankings
• remedial education is a big deal and it costs valuable time and money, delaying, and in some cases preventing college completion
• transfer is a multifaceted and complex process riddled with uncertainty
• reading financial aid letters and determining the net price is not for the faint of heart 🙂
• the worst-case scenario is dropping out without a degree and riddled with debt

I want to inform the college selection and college progression process by discussing some lesser-known indicators that can impact college success.