In this podcast episode of Kitchen Table College Chats, Marc Deboer and Gary Stocker continue their virtual kitchen table chats for colleges students and their families.

Most students fall in love with a college campus. In this episode, we ask parents and students alike to make sure that colleges they love during the tour can deliver the college education needed.

From Emotion to Evaluation

Before you fall in love with a college campus, run a simple mental shift:

Instead of asking:
Do I love this campus?

Ask:
Will this college still get me to graduation day?
Will this college keep my major or eliminate it?
Does this college have the resources to keep the buildings and grounds safe?

That means looking at:

• Enrollment trends (growing or shrinking?)
• Graduation rates (who actually finishes? Most colleges take longer than 4 years to graduate students.)
• Financial health (stable or stressed?)
• Program strength (expanding or being cut?)

This is the difference between choosing a place… and choosing a future.

If you listen to enough college admissions advice, you might start to believe a few things:

That everyone should go to college.

Going to college guarantees you a good job.

That students must discover their life passion at age 17.

Or that the best strategy is simply applying to as many schools as possible and hoping for the best.

The problem?

A lot of that advice is based more on tradition and urban myth than reality.

In this episode, Marc and Gary break down the admissions myths that quietly hurt families—and replace them with a more practical way to think about choosing a college.

Because when it comes to admissions, good information can save a lot of money and stress.

What if the college you choose doesn’t make it to your graduation day?

It sounds dramatic—but it’s becoming a very real question. Across the country, colleges are quietly cutting majors, merging programs, and in some cases closing altogether.

In this episode, Marc and Gary talk about the question families rarely ask during campus tours: Is this college financially healthy enough to get my student across the finish line?

We’ll break down the warning signs, the numbers schools don’t like to highlight, and a few simple ways parents and students can do their own “viability check” before committing four years and a lot of tuition dollars.

Pull up a chair. This is the kind of college conversation that should probably happen around the kitchen table.

It is not just tuition along with room & board that are cost considerations of a college education. Here are two other items Marc and Gary talk about.

Almost everyone assumes their student will graduate in 4 years. Yet only 43% of American 4-year public and private colleges graduates students in 4 years. Every additional year needed adds additional costs. It also leads to . . . .

Opportunity costs: If a student can't start earning a post-degree income in 4 years that is lost income they will almost certainly never recover. Students and parents are best served to consider if a college is historically graduating students on time. At College Viability, we use a minimum threshold of 50%. If a college you are considering doesn't graduate at least half of its students in 4 years, consideration of colleges that do may be in order.

As students and parents make plans for college visits, Marc and Gary offer questions to ask that many would not think to ask. In addition, they provide expected answers to questions and how to analyze those college responses.

If you are a student or parent and take a spin with the new College Viability Transparency Tool, click here.

Do you want to see how many students completed your major and a college? Click here.

Gary Stocker and Marc DeBoer provide the type of guidance and perspective students and their parents rarely get during the college search and decision process. This week they share and discuss the most useful and informative questions to ask during the college tour. Marc also offers how to get answers to questions tour guides typically don't have.