Smaller Colleges You Don’t Know, but You Really Should – Pacific Northwest Edition

When students and families are considering colleges, typical factors include: cost, legacy, name-recognition, and location. Lesser factors that should be just as important include: majors offered as well as the learning environment – big school, big classes, big city or small school, smaller classes, small town, or a combination of those – where will a student learn best?

Working in college counseling for several years, there are patterns and misconceptions I’ve seen in deciding factors of students and parents, including:

• In-state tuition is cheaper

• State institutions cost less than private institutions

• Big-name schools are better

When the entirety of college funding is considered – even before FAFSA or outside scholarships – all of these usual deciding factors can be strongly refuted.

In-state tuition is cheaper: Tuition may be cheaper, but institution location can seriously impact costs for housing. Most students leave campus housing in their third year.

State institutions cost less than private institutions: Private institutions have high sticker prices, but also much higher capacity – and willingness – to offer scholarships, sometimes more than 50% of tuition and costs.

Big-name schools are better: Big-name schools often charge more because they rely on brand recognition, which is just a perception of quality, not a quantitative measure.

So what are some of the institutions you should know? Because I’m located in the Seattle area, let’s start here.

Willamette University, Salem, OR, a private, liberal arts university, smaller school, smaller class sizes, smaller town vs. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, state university, big school, big classes, big city – Computer Science Program

While area seniors are scrambling and sweating to get into UW’s CS program – direct admit, no transfers accepted – Willamette’s CS program is not a direct admit AND it offers a 3+1 master’s degree(!)

Let’s break this down. Annual tuition, fees, and housing for first-year students at Willamette is about $68,000. Take a breath, this is the sticker price. Willamette gives $26,000 dollars in tuition to ALL students – why is the tuition fee $68,000 if every student receives a $26k grant? That’s another blog post. Washington state students receive a $2,500 grant, just ‘cause they live in Washington and Willamette wants to attract out-of-state students. This brings down the first-year costs to about $39,500.

UW’s annual tuition, fees, and housing for first-year students is estimated at $35,700. While this is still a few thousand dollars lower than Willamette, things to consider are: competitiveness of direct admission, location cost of living, area safety and security, and learning environment. Also: 1) Housing costs will increase significantly for students who move off-campus in their second or third year in Seattle versus in Salem; 2) Willamette’s 3+1 program saves at a minimum, one year’s graduate tuition at UW, which is approximately $21,700 without housing.

Salem, Oregon is looking pretty sexy right now, right?

Another concern is travel between the institution and home. Salem has train and bus service into Seattle with nominal costs. Depending on where “home” is for a student considering UW, it could be a drive around the block, across a toll bridge, or across a mountain pass.

Staying in the Pacific Northwest, let’s look at nursing programs in two Washington schools, St. Martin’s University and Washington State University.

St. Martin’s University, Lacey, WA, private university, smaller school, smaller classes, small city vs. Washington State University, Pullman, WA, big school, average class sizes, small city

Nursing programs are as popular as computer science and just as competitive. Personally, I know one graduate who had a 3.9 GPA and a-MAZ-ingly compassionate disposition, who didn’t get into the WSU nursing program until her second application – essentially, she was studying for five years.

St. Martin’s University is located just south of Olympia, WA, on the west side of the Cascades – regionally, traversing a mountain pass can be a deciding factor. First-year tuition including housing is approximately $61,600. Automatic scholarships based on GPA ranges from $13,000 to $29,000.

WSU’s first-year tuition and housing is approximately $35,300. If a student qualifies for the St. Martin’s scholarship requiring a 3.5 GPA, the cost is $35,600. If a student qualifies for the St. Martin’s scholarship requiring a 3.9, that brings costs down to $32,600. Moving to off-campus housing in the second or third year is about even for both institutions which are located in small towns.

Costs are similar, but it’s important to consider the competitive nature of being accepted into the nursing program at WSU versus St. Martin’s. This could add more schooling and costs with the WSU program that is more competitive mainly due to name-recognition and perception that a state institution costs less than a private institution.

I’m throwing in another plug for St. Martin’s. While University of Washington is also well known for its engineering programs – which also have competitive acceptance – St. Martin’s has a 4+1 master’s in engineering program. Factoring undergrad tuition, housing – both on- and off-campus, and graduate tuition, and scholarships through the institutions, St. Martin’s should be on any engineering student’s list of consideration.

With more posts to come on smaller, unknown schools, I hope this introduces the idea of considering schools outside of the mainstream conversation.