« Who's Teaching Those Classes? »

Top research universities can boast of the world-renowned faculty. But, if a professor who just won a Nobel Prize for research doesn't have time to teach undergraduates, how will your child benefit? Learning from a college’s most experienced teachers - the tenured faculty - is worth the price of admission. Close relationships with professors not only enhance a student’s classroom learning, they also open up opportunities for individual research projects.

As one alumna of a small college notes, "As an undergraduate, I worked on a novel research project of my own design. My professor and I were making discoveries together. This experience helped me earn a national fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in genetics."

Ask what percentage of classes are taught by professors and what percent by teaching assistants or adjunct professors. Ask how many teaching assistants the college employs and how they’re used.

A large class, taught by a professor might break out into smaller T.A.-led discussion groups or a T.A. might assist a faculty member by working one-on-one with seminar students to improve student writing. But one 24-year-old grad student might be solely responsible for a 300-student section of "Physics 101," so it's worth asking the question.

The extent to which the faculty is engaged in research does have a bearing on your child’s college education. The number of research grants the institution attracts and the number of scholarly papers and articles that faculty members generate each year enhance an institution’s reputation.

But, while research generates money and stature for faculty within their chosen fields, it directly competes with the amount of time faculty can devote to teaching.

U.S. Department of Education statistics reveal that full-time faculty members in public research universities spend only about 40% of their time teaching, while the figure is 64% for faculty at private liberal arts colleges.

Percentage of graduates who said they benefited from ...

High quality, teaching- oriented faculty:

Lutheran College Graduates 92% Public University Graduates 77%

Personal interaction with faculty

Lutheran College Graduates 86%   Public University Graduates 55%

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