Choosing the right school | Careers and education | Financial Literacy | Khan Academy

So let's think a little bit about how you might decide where you want to go to college. The first thing I'll remind you, because this can oftentimes be a pretty stressful decision, is that there is no right decision. You just need to make the decision right now. What do I mean by that?

There are plenty of great colleges and universities and community colleges. If you go to them with an attitude of, "Hey, I'm going to take advantage of what this campus, what this program has to offer. I'm going to put myself out of my comfort zone. I'm going to sign up for clubs. I'm going to introduce myself to people. I'm going to try to get internships. I'm going to try to join co-op programs. I'm going to try to get to know my professors," you'll probably do pretty well.

Pretty much as long as you go to one of these reasonable places. Now, on the other hand, you could go to some of the fanciest colleges on the planet, but if you go there a little bit afraid to step out of your comfort zone, if you're a little bit passive about your education, you kind of just let the education happen to you as opposed to you happening to the education, then it might not be great. It just might not be a great fit for you for whatever reason.

So, it's not about someplace being perfect; it's about what you bring to it. Now, with that said, there probably are certain types of places that you might thrive more than others. The first thing, and we talk about this in other videos, you can look at the cost of different options and always keep in mind things like financial aid. Don't just look at the sticker costs. Sometimes the financial aid at some of the most expensive universities is the most significant financial aid. So definitely, take a look at that.

But it's not just about cost; it's also about benefit. Talk to a lot of folks, especially students who are at that program, ideally people who are recent graduates or who graduated maybe five or ten years ago. Ask them about both their career opportunities, any regrets they might have, whether what they thought was going to happen actually happened. Was it better than expected? Was it worse than expected?

Also, ask about their experience there. There could be two folks who end up in a similar place career-wise and money-wise, but one might say, "Yeah, you know, my four years of college really weren't great years." And there could be someone else that says, "Well, you know, those were some of the best years of my life. I met some of my best friends. I was so stimulated," etc.

So that has to be part of the equation, too. We're not living just to make money and have a job and pay bills. Now, that's important, too, but it's also about having an experience in life that you think might be fulfilling and make you a better person in a lot of ways.

Now, your general options are going to be, obviously, you could go to a four-year college. Four-year colleges will often have your in-state colleges, which will tend to have lower tuition. Then you might have the private colleges, which will tend to have higher tuition. But once again, keep in mind things like financial aid. Don't write off an expensive university without looking a little bit into how they give financial aid and whether you might be able to get a pretty good financial aid package.

Now, you also have associate programs, community colleges. These might be really great options. The cost can be significantly lower, especially because they're close to home. Maybe you live at home, and in many cases, you can go into one of those programs and sometimes get a great job coming out of them. Or you can transfer for a four-year degree and save some money in the process for at least those first two years.

The one thing I will tell you to be a little bit wary of are what I would call for-profit universities. I don't want to say all for-profit universities are bad or good, etc. But when you're looking at colleges and associate programs that are for-profit, you just have to be a little bit wary about what their motivations are.

Especially, many times they'll have a lot of marketing. They'll really talk about all of the things that they're doing for their students, but you need to ask the hard questions to make sure that those outcomes are really happening. I'll tell you a story: when I used to work at an investment fund, we once talked to a publicly traded company that ran some of these associate programs.

I have to tell you, you know, they seemed very focused on what their marketing costs were and how long the students needed to spend at their campus or their online program in order for them to collect the government grants. But they really didn't have great outcomes. So this was a situation where their motivation—I'm not saying this is going to be the case for all for-profit universities—but their motivation was definitely, "Hey, you know, we want to market as aggressively as possible, get people through the door, collect some of that government grant money, and then hopefully something good happens to them afterwards." But they didn't seem as focused there.

And it's also not to say that all not-for-profit universities are perfect, either. Similarly, you have to really scrutinize. They might give you some numbers about, "Hey, our average graduate does this," or "The average graduate with a job gets this." But you have to say, "Well, how many of them get a job, and how quickly do they get a job?" I would recommend actually talking to real people—recent graduates, seniors looking to get a job—to see if those outcomes really hold up or if they had to really hustle for them in ways that maybe the college didn't support them that much.

That's real, real information.

So what I would recommend is to keep a reasonable number of options—some that might be a little bit more of a stretch, some that might be your backup, very affordable, you know they’re going to be. But then, before you make the decision, definitely visit the campus. See how it feels. Talk to people on the campus. See if it resonates—if their experience seems like something you'd want.

Also, talk to as many people as possible, especially recent grads or seniors who might be looking for a job. Don't be afraid to ask what I would call slightly impolite questions, such as, "How much money are you making? Are you stressed about it? Are you making what you thought you were? How much did the school help you with career placement? Do you think you would have gotten this job if you went someplace else? Do you think you wish you majored in something else?"

So, you have your future in front of you. Just ask really, really good questions of a lot of folks. Be a little bit nosy. Don't always accept what people tell you, especially the universities, at face value. Double check for yourself, and then you'll probably be in pretty good shape.