Well, kinda. Fort Hays State University recently made it on to USA Today's 5 of the Most Inexpensive Colleges in the U.S. Fort Hays made the list at five.
This shouldn't really come as a surprise. Heck, the slogan for Fort Hays when I attended was "Affordable Success." The price was actually a significant factor in me ultimately deciding to go there.
It's interesting though to see the reactions from people when I tell them that's my alma mater. Unless I'm telling someone that is a Fort Hays grad, their reaction is usually a polite "Oh, nice" or a vivid "Eww..."
Because let's face it. Fort Hays is not Harvard. It's not Cambridge. It's not KU. Fort Hays doesn't have a "reputation" factor with it. In fact, many people seem to only know of it as a "party school." But I'm convinced more than ever that none of that really matters. You could go to KU or the University of Texas and major in English but you're still going to get the same basic education I did.
Reputation Doesn't Matter
A recent story by Claudio Sanchez from National Public Radio shows that many people equate high tuition with quality:While most institutions tried to keep costs down, Baum says, some took advantage of the public perception that a high tuition means a quality education.
"There's certainly evidence that people don't know how to measure the quality of a college education," she says. "They think that if it's expensive it must be better. I don't think colleges want to have high prices, but I do think they see strategic reasons why it may be in their interest to have high prices."
I went to a cheap college without a reputation and yet I would put my college resume up against nearly anyone else in the country because of what I did while I was there. That, more than anything, is what stands out on my resume and is a primary reason I was able to land job interviews. The USA Today article challenged the notion of a school's "reputation" being what lands you a job and argues that it's actually what you achieve while you're in school that matters.
Is there any truth to (a college's reputation helping to land you a job)? Some recruiters and other experts say "no." According to a publication by the College Solution, employers seek out candidates from a variety of schools – large, small, known and unknown. The publication adds that what you do during your time in school matters. Your achievements, credentials, and activities will set you apart from competition in the job market.
But what about the quality of the education that's provided? Surely, students at expensive, prestigious schools must get more out of their educational experience? You would think there's some truth to that, but you'd be wrong. What a student learns in a classroom in college is NOT predicated on what the college does but on what the STUDENT does. The more motivated a student is, the more they will learn, regardless of the quality of instruction. In fact, the Brookings Institution released some interesting findings on the matter, responding to statistics showing Yale graduates made 30 percent more money than Tulane graduates:
But maybe the kids who got into Yale were simply more talented or hardworking than those who got into Tulane. To adjust for this, Krueger and Dale studied what happened to students who were accepted at an Ivy or a similar institution, but chose instead to attend a less sexy, "moderately selective" school. It turned out that such students had, on average, the same income twenty years later as graduates of the elite colleges. Krueger and Dale found that for students bright enough to win admission to a top school, later income "varied little, no matter which type of college they attended." In other words, the student, not the school, was responsible for the success.
There's something refreshing about being reminded that what we achieve is entirely up to us and that what you DO is more important than where you're coming from. While at Fort Hays I had a large number of opportunities to do some great things. As a junior I was the editor of the student newspaper. I got to play on the drumline. I took 100-level classes from professors with doctorates in classes with only 20 others. I gained a lot from my time there simply because opportunities were given to me and I took them. Would I have been able to do the same at KU? Probably not. They don't let you even write for the newspaper until you're a junior. Maybe this sounds pessimistic, but for my situation, I probably would have just ended up with a larger tuition bill.
...but cost DOES
So reputation doesn't matter very much. But how important is cost? Over the next several years it will become more and more of a factor.Over the last five years tuition has skyrocketed. In Arizona, for example, parents have seen a 77 percent increase in costs. In Georgia, it's 75 percent, and in Washington state, 70 percent. Even at Fort Hays, my "affordable success" school, tuition is now $145 for in-state students. When I attended, it was $98. That's roughly a 50 percent increase.
There was another appeal to me in going to Fort Hays instead of another school. And that is that I strongly believe that a higher education should be accessible to anyone who wants it. There are students who get C's in high school but put in A-level effort. Those students aren't going to get the big-dollar scholarships that we celebrate so much. Those students may not be from families of privilege who can afford college. Cost should NOT be something that keeps kids out of school. This is something I feel pretty strongly about. Higher education is not just something for the elite. It is not just something for the "gifted." It's something that should be attainable to anyone willing to do the work.
I make fun of my alma mater. A lot. Especially around others who went to school there. But there are a number of things I'm proud of about it. One thing I don't regret is passing on prestige in favor of opportunity.
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