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College is what you make it to be; I went to a few private schools in the States and paid a nice sum for it, yet so many individuals were graduating but weren't truly prepared to be out in the workforce. Yet that isn't the fault of the university; they paid their dues and passed their tests and fulfilled the requirements for graduation, but I can't honestly say that they were necessarily any smarter or more knowledgeable about the concepts than students from any public university was. You can either take advantage of the opportunities that the university provides to you, or you can slide by and spend your days partying and partaking of Greek life.

Public universities have a lot of extra money that private schools often do not, and have an atmosphere that people feel contribute to the reputation of the institution of being a party school. Public schools may be a lot harder to graduate from; for one you are thrown into huge classes where you do not receive any moral support and you are just a number. The college is often ran just like any other business, if you do not have the resolve to take the classes on your own you'll end up becoming another professional student wandering the streets of the city. More often than not the public university is in a metropolitan area and has the diversions of city life one would not have to deal with at a private school. Most students are not mature enough to handle this, which leads to the idea that the private school is better because the schools are smaller and out in the country.

Graduates of private schools may do better working at institutions that are about as small as the schools they've graduated from. You go to a private school with classes of 5 to 100 students, and then you leave and go to work for a company that has tens of thousands of employees; sometimes in the same building. If you've been in private school your entire life, live in the suburbs and for the most part are used to smaller, more intimate surroundings this may take some getting adjusted to. That student from the larger overcrowded public schools are used to those surroundings, and may feel more comfortable there which will ultimately lead to their being more productive there.

The key questions to ask are "What type of private school is this, and why is it a private institution", "What types of individuals will this bring me or my child into contact with, and how does it prepare them for interactions with people that aren't as privileged as the students at this university are", "What type of person is this preparing my child to be". Not all private schools have the tough academic requirements and are the intellectual boot camps that we often assume that private schools would be. Does that private school have a co-operative education program that will prepare your kid to work at a company, in fact, which companies are this school even aligned with? Do companies in the immediate area surrounding the school even want to deal with students from this school to begin with; in the event that your kid ends up settling into the closest city? You would be surprised at what you find; you would also be amazed at some of the advantages your kid may have with certain public schools that you weren't aware of. It is your money, your kids' money if you aren't footing the entire cost; be sure that both you and your kids make a sound financial decision, before the school does for you...

Learn more about this author, Christopher Kendalls.
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