Difference between public and private colleges

What is a college? A college is a small educational institution typically offers both undergraduate and diploma courses but don’t provide research programs. After passing higher school, most of the students are trying to make your college list to get enroll. During your research you’ll definitely come across public and private colleges. You have no idea what is the difference between two and you need to know now. They are differing from each other in some fundamental ways. In this article, you’ll learn about difference between public and private colleges in more detail.

1   Comparison of Public college and Private college

Below you’ll find out the comparison between Public college and Private college.

1.1   Size

The size of public colleges are tend to be large than that of private colleges. This is due to the reason that they receive most of the in-state students. It is very common for these colleges to have populations that rival mid-sized towns, often becoming communities in and of themselves. On the other hand, size of private colleges is smaller than that of public schools. These schools might have only few hundred or thousands of students.

1.2   Source of funding

One of the major differences in between Public and Private college is source of funding. Public colleges are funded by both state government and taxpayers whereas Private colleges receive most of the funding from non public sources such as grants, endowments, religious organizations and charitable donations or by tuition payments.

1.3   Cost of Tuition fee

Most of the public colleges offer lower rates of tuition fee especially for in-state students. This is due to public schools receive funding mainly from the government whereas private schools have to rely on student tuition to maintain their operational costs and are more expensive than that of public schools.

1.4   Program offerings

Public colleges offer more degree programs than that of private colleges.    For example- a large public university in Indiana named as Purdue University offers more than 200 majors. On the other hand, private colleges particularly Liberal Arts College tends to offer fewer academic majors than public colleges.

1.5   Campus life

Campus life of both colleges is different depending upon which college you choose for higher studies. Public colleges typically have maximum budgets to fund for student activities and events as well whereas private colleges due to their small size tend to offer less variety of activities for students. Although, they still put on fun events and offer several extracurricular to students.

1.6   Financial aid

Both public and private colleges provide federal financial aid to students. Private colleges often have more money available to award grants and scholarships as well due to their large endowments. Moreover, these schools also offer discount in tuition fee than public schools. In short, private schools are more expensive than public schools, tuition discounts and financial aid packages can sometimes make them more affordable than public schools.

To summarize the above work, we can conclude that both public and private colleges differ from each other in some aspects but it is up to you to decide which one is best for you.

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