On College "Fit"

Rethinking a key factor in most college decisions

Normally, May 1st is “decision day” for high school seniors headed for college in the fall. But in recent years more students have been waiting until June or later to make their decisions. And that’s going to be especially true this year because of delays in acceptances caused by the Department of Education’s botched revamp of the FAFSA system.

So for the third and final post in my higher ed series at Church Leaders, I went ahead and shared some advice for how parents and pastors could help students make a belated college decision. I started where I began the series, reminding readers to think about both the cost and value of college: e.g., “Students shouldn’t choose an option so expensive that they’ll have to work too much to succeed in their studies.”

But then I turned to the factor that’s often second only to cost/aid in the college decision:

It’s a hard word to define, but I think fit captures how choosing a college is often about feel more than facts.

Just like most of us need to try on clothes, not just go by measurements, your student has probably spent a year or two “trying on” colleges, rather than just trusting data she read in brochures and on websites. She got a feel for different schools via social media, asked what people she trusts have heard about them, and hopefully visited a few campuses to see for herself what their people, places, and programs are like.

So I do understand why students cite “fit” to explain why they do or don’t choose a particular college. But while that consideration usually equates to “comfort” when it comes to selecting clothes, thinking in those terms can lead to the wrong college fit.