Higher education is more important than ever in today's knowledge-based economy, but it also can be an expensive proposition. It is essential to ask the right questions.

Are you a high school junior starting to think about where you want to attend college, or a working adult considering returning to school? Or perhaps you're a parent of a college-bound student. If you fall into any of these categories, then surely you are evaluating and comparing colleges. And you should be. At the AFT, we believe that process should include taking a close look at the degree to which colleges and universities invest in instruction. To help you with your research, the AFT has developed several tools for each step of the process.

Researching and Visiting Colleges

To get started, check out the AFT's college guide and checklist, Just Ask! Which College Is Right for You? The guide and checklist will help you evaluate each school you are considering, providing you with a wide range of questions to choose from based on your specific situation and priorities.

Check out what other organizations have offered their support for Which College is Right for You?

In addition, we recommend you visit the AFT Higher Education Data Center prior to any campus visit. The Data Center includes detailed information about every institution of higher education in the country, including tuition costs, types of degrees awarded, levels of student aid and more.

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Grading the Colleges

After visiting several colleges, it can be difficult to remember all the details, which is why we have prepared the College Visit Report Card. The Report Card will help you record your thoughts and observations and compare institutions to one another, so you can decide which college is best for you. You will grade each school on three key areas--cost, instructional and academic services, and campus life and safety--by summarizing the information you collected using the On-Campus Checklist in Just Ask! Which College Is Right for You?

By reflecting on the information you gathered using the checklist, you can decide how many points to award each school on the College Visit Report Card. Instead of asking for information from someone else, you will be asking yourself how satisfied you are with the information provided by the institution.

En español.

Ranking the Colleges

Once you have completed the College Visit Report Card for each college, record the total scores on the College Rankings Sheet, which will give you a  comparison snapshot of how you rated all the colleges you are considering, in each of the key areas as well as overall.

En español. 

Check out the Just Ask! xtranormal videos and pass them onto your friends, colleagues and anyone who you know is getting ready to choose which college to attend.

The Just Ask! Questions

The college you choose should have the right program for you, provide a safe and supportive environment, and offer you the extracurricular activities you want. But it is also extremely important that the college you choose is investing in the frontline educators who will be most responsible for your academic success. Unfortunately, colleges and universities are investing less and less in faculty. In fact, at most colleges today, it's more than likely that students will be taught by an instructor who doesn't have a permanent position on the faculty. Most of these professionals are great teachers, but they usually work part time, are poorly compensated, and lack basic professional supports such as suitable office space to meet with their students.

Consequently, it is critical that you ask hard questions about how an institution you are considering plans to staff and support the classes you will be taking, particularly your introductory courses.

Just Ask! Just Tell

Once you have finished your campus visits, make sure you report back on information you were impressed by or concerned about. We hope you will:

• Tell your high school adviser what you learned about how each school is investing (or not investing) in its instructional staff, so that they know and can share this with future students.
• Write back to schools and tell them about any concerns you have about how they invest in instruction.
• Tell us what you learned. We want to hear what colleges and universities are telling you about their investment in instruction. Just e-mail us at highered@aft.org.