Most of my semesters, my classes include a good fraction of first-year students. I also see the families of prospective students through our open house Saturdays when they visit our campus and see what we have to offer in the way of majors and concentrations.

Most U.S. businesses whether big stores or small shops focus on convenience and offering options to their customers. This leads to a consumer outlook that is reinforced through advertisements, television ads and infomercials.

Then there are a number of films set in a college setting where the students have interesting stories, relationships outside the classroom and a rich social environment. They don’t make movies that portray students learning, working on homework, doing papers, etc. If these activities play a role in the movies, they are mentioned after the fact. These two above outlooks, consumerism and college as a social life hothouse are not useful, particularly to the parents of students and the students themselves.

College is an investment in the development of the thinking processes of the students. Paying the expenses of college (tuition, fees, books, lodgings and meals) is far removed from buying a new vehicle or a large screen high definition television.

Whether a student develops his/her ability to reason and can successfully investigate a new situation depends primarily on their effort and time they spend on the classes, particularly in studying and working on projects and problems out of class. There are great ranges in college expenses from a few thousand dollars a semester to the highest levels (about $1,000 a week); the dollar values spent often don’t reflect the student’s development.

The most expensive schools turn away most applicants and accept mainly those who are have had a very good preparation for college, whether through a strong academic high school or well prepared home school students. (The small percentage of exceptions are the children of wealthy and powerful alumni and alumnae.)

So the expensive colleges graduate some very qualified students. The high price colleges didn’t have much to do as most of their students had the temperament to work up to their potential. So the price of these schools is not a measure of the real cost of instruction but acts to screen out most applicants. (There are scholarships to less affluent students, but the room and board are still costly.)

Below the elite private and religious schools are the large enrollment state and private universities. These schools often have hundreds of students in their introductory classes; few of the faculty in these large classes get to know any of their students. But once a student has advanced to junior or senior level, the classes are much smaller and there’s good interaction between the brightest members of the class and the class instructor.

The problem with these large schools is the huge amount of distraction due to social organizations and sports.

The less expensive colleges, of course, accept the less prepared students. These colleges usually have smaller classes and offer their students an opportunity to get to know and work with the professors. A student who takes the initiative can probably get as much attention from his teachers as at any of the other colleges, at less expense than big time university or big name college.

Many parents feel that by sending their sons or daughters to a prestigious college or university that they will be able to secure a high paying job after they graduate (perhaps, to pay off their large student loans). But here is where the student can play a bigger role than the name of the institution that he/she graduates from. Students during their sophomore or junior years should seek out businesses that offer summer internships so they have a chance to show what they can do and even outperform students from the big time schools.

The best advice I can give to students who are interested in developing their abilities during college is to limit their socialization in college to students in their classes and majors who are primarily there to get an education and not mindless partying. Going to college to cultivate one’s social life is such a waste of money and time.

Why not stay at home, go to work and party in the evenings? Then you don’t have to worry about grades and staying up late to write papers. You can really enjoy yourself. After you get tired of the social scene and have a better idea of what occupation best fits you, find the best places to get trained and then go to school in that area. But going to college because most of your friends are there really doesn’t work.

Call (301) 687-7799 to request a Planetarium bookmark that has a small map showing the Planetarium location and parking. Dr. Doyle invites readers’ comments and questions; email him at rdoyle@frostburg.edu .