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In many lists of colleges, research universities are listed or ranked separately from other schools that focus exclusively on the undergraduate experience, like liberal arts colleges. Why? What's the point?

In this article, I’ll list the main characteristics of research universities, give you some information about what life is like at a few different schools, and help you decide whether a research university is the right choice for you.

What Is a Research University?

As you may have guessed from the name, research universities are universities where the main focus is on the research of professors and graduate students. These universities may be less oriented towards undergraduate teaching, but they can still provide excellent experiences for students who are willing and able to seek out the resources they offer.

Here are some of the main characteristics of research universities:

More Interaction with Graduate Students

Since all research universities have graduate programs associated with them, you’ll have more opportunities to interact with grad students as an undergraduate. This may give you insight into your future or lead to collaboration on research projects conducted by more advanced students.

State-of-the-Art Research Facilities

The main mission of a research university is to produce new and exciting research, and to do that it needs to provide the best equipment to its students and professors. This is a big plus for students focused on the hard sciences because large research universities will usually have access to the latest technology.

Wide Variety of Majors

Research universities, due to their size and diversity, offer a wide range of majors to students. Although it’s sometimes more difficult to change your major or create your own major at these universities due to a large bureaucracy, you’ll have lot of choice in the first place.

Larger Class Sizes with Less Individual Attention

For most research universities, large class sizes, particularly at the introductory level, are common. You may find yourself in lecture halls with more than 100 students, which means less attention and personalized feedback.

However, most of these large classes are split off into discussion sections taught by graduate students, so you'll get a chance to interact with other students and TAs. Also, a s you take more advanced classes, class sizes will shrink. Many of these universities also offer honors programs to qualified students where the environment is more like that of a small college.

Distinguished Faculty

Research universities attract well-known faculty because of the resources and opportunities they offer. You'll have the chance to network with very important people in fields that interest you. You may even be able to work side by side with high profile researchers on lab projects and become a coauthor on published research.

International Reputation

Research universities have better reputations on a global scale than smaller teaching colleges. Since big discoveries and scientific breakthroughs often take place at research universities, they get more recognition abroad than other colleges that might have excellent undergraduate programs but less robust research capabilities.

Advantages for Future Graduate Students

Spending four years as an undergraduate at a research university can give you a leg up in the competition for graduate school admissions. You can get letters of recommendation from top researchers in your field that will encourage other universities to accept you based on reputation.

What Is the Student Experience Like?

The learning environment at a research university will be different from the learning environment at a small college in most cases. Here are a few examples of research universities along with some details on what the student experience is like. All student quotes are from the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 :

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Learning at MIT is based on research and hands-on experimentation. Students in electrical engineering and computer science have the option of pursuing a five-year degree , meaning they obtain a masters upon completion of their studies. One student says, “The average MIT student can be characterized as having a passion and singular drive for what they really want in life.”

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program facilitates student/faculty research projects and allows students to earn course credit and stipends for research. There are nine Nobel laureates on the MIT faculty at present.

MIT is home to many, many different research facilities. Currently under construction is a $350 million facility called MIT.nano, which will provide resources for students to do research in the exciting new field of nanotechnology.

University of Colorado - Boulder

At UC Boulder, the 45,000 square foot Discovery Learning Center has 12 labs where engineering students can work on different technological challenges with high-tech capabilities and video conferencing. A student says that “professors and graduate student instructors alike have taken a keen interest in students’ progress, success, and learning, making themselves available to students as a valuable resource for extra assistance with class concepts and assignments.”

Programs such as the Special Undergraduate Enrichment Program and Presidents Leadership Class give high-performing students the ability to stand out from the crowd. Students say that “It’s such a large, broad campus that just about any sort of student can be found” and “every student, teacher, and department always has something new and exciting going on. It would be very hard to get bored here.”

Washington University in St. Louis

Students say that Washington University in St. Louis is “a place to grow and learn while having an unbelievably fun time.” Undergraduates enroll in one of five schools: arts and sciences, architecture, art, business, or engineering , and the University also accommodates interdisciplinary majors and double majors.

The medical school runs a faculty exchange program with the undergraduate biology department , giving biology majors the opportunity to conduct advanced lab research. A program called the University Scholars Program allows students to apply for both undergraduate and graduate admission before entering college.

Unlike some research universities, Washington University in St. Louis gives students the chance to have one on one mentoring relationships with impressive faculty members. According to one student, “one of my classes was a 150-person lecture class, and another was a 12-person seminar...despite these disparate class sizes, I was on a first-name basis with both of the professors.”

Should You Consider a Research University?

You may still be unsure about whether a research university is the right choice for you. If these characteristics apply to you, you should consider research universities as options in your college search:

You Plan to Go to Grad School

As mentioned above, many research universities have programs that will put you on track for a strong graduate school application or even provide extended five-year programs that allow you to graduate with a masters. These schools offer a more streamlined path to graduate school considering their reputable faculty and research opportunities.

You’re Interested in the Sciences

The advanced facilities and resources at research universities will make the most difference to students who are interested in the sciences. Th e most cutting-edge scientific discoveries are occurring at these universities , so you'll have many opportunities to meet people who are leaders in their fields (and even collaborate with them on projects).

Libraries at research universities are excellent, but at most colleges you'll be able to get the resources you’re looking for in the humanities. If you’re interested in science, however, other colleges might not give you access to the same high tech equipment available at research universities.

You Want to Do Research as an Undergraduate

It should come as no surprise to you that research universities are the best places to do research! This goes hand in hand with a desire to continue your education past an undergraduate degree. If you plan on going on to grad school (particularly in the sciences), you will almost certainly be expected to do research as an undergraduate for your thesis and other projects.

If you fit these characteristics, a research university may be the right choice for you, but it’s not necessarily the only good choice. There are many small colleges that will afford you similar opportunities on a slightly smaller scale and may give you more one-on-one time with professors and a stronger advising system. Students sometimes have to be very independent at research universities since the focus is not explicitly on undergraduate teaching. However, these schools offer great opportunities to gather hands-on experience in the subject areas that interest you and connect with the brightest minds in any field.

What's Next?

Still trying to decide what type of college you want to attend? One factor you might consider besides a school's research capabilities is its status as a public or private institution. Read this article to find out which is a better fit for you.

If you're thinking of attending a research university, you may be looking at schools that are far from your home town. Learn more about the pros and cons of going to school out of state.

Not sure whether a large university is the right choice for you? Take a look at this article to see whether a big or small college will be a better fit for you.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download them for free now:

Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles. Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in 2014. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar.

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10 Reasons to Go to a Research University

With May 1—Decision Day—around the corner, here are a few things to consider.

May 1 is a new holiday on the college calendar: National Candidate Reply Date, also referred to by many as Decision Day. That's the day by which more than 2 million students must decide where to go to college and tell the school of their choice. Some students will be choosing between a college that focuses on teaching and a university that emphasizes research. And many will think that a teaching college would always be the obvious best choice. After all, you're going there to learn, so why wouldn't you go to a college that emphasizes teaching? But there are some real advantages to the research university that might be worth your while to consider. Here are 10:

1. Top researchers can also be top teachers. It's often thought that professors who are serious about their research programs couldn't care less about teaching and/or are lousy teachers. Instead, many researchers carry their passion for the field into the classroom and are inspirational teachers and role models. Also, professors who do research generally understand the field better than ones who don't, so they can explain the material better to students—especially when it comes to more advanced courses and topics.

2. Courses at research universities often incorporate the latest research . Faculty who are engaged in research are more in touch with breaking developments in their field. And they're more likely to include this material—including discoveries too recent to make it into the textbook—in their classes. This makes for more exciting and up-to-date courses that are a whole lot more interesting than courses that are a remix of what's already in the book.

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3. The faculty can be more energized . Faculty at research universities are often making genuine discoveries and receiving recognition for their work. Large salaries, prizes, publications in distinguished journals or at prestigious presses, participation in international conferences or workshops: all of these mean prestige to the professor and, simply, feeling good about him or herself. These good feelings can carry over to the classroom when the professor feels genuine excitement and meaning in sharing with the students what he or she has discovered.

4 . There is the possibility of internships and collaborative research with experts. Studies have shown that some of the best educational experiences for college students take place not in the classroom, but in their interactions with professors outside the classroom, especially in the context of shared research activities. Such collaborative projects provide chances for students to themselves become researchers, and even sometimes coauthors of published papers or copresenters at conferences, either of which is a major feather in anyone's cap.

5. There tend to be more—and more fine-grained—majors. The large size of the research university may have its drawbacks, but one advantage is a larger faculty and a larger range of disciplines taught. This means that students get a lot more choices of majors. For example, at the University of California—Berkeley , you can choose from more than 300 majors and programs. Moreover, within a single field of inquiry, you'll find many fine-tuned variations: in the biological sciences at Berkeley, you can choose Integrative Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Immunology, Cell Biology, and Neurobiology. And then there are more obscure majors, too: you'll find Demography, Epidemiology, Media Studies, Folklore, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual and Transgender Studies, and Native American Studies. At a small college, on the other hand, you might find only 25 to 30 majors to choose from. Choice is good.

6. There are state-of-the-art facilities for research publication. Research universities have to provide top facilities so that their faculty can properly accomplish the research required of them. That means that the university has to invest in larger libraries and other equipment needed for research in various fields. In addition, the research faculty are able to, and at most research universities are expected to, win various kinds of grants from government, business and other agencies to pay for research costs. All this benefits the undergraduates who can then have access to the fancy lasers, rapid prototyping machines, or whatever else the faculty is playing with.

7. You can have contact with graduate students. The fact that research universities devote significant attention to training graduate students is often seen in a very negative light. Some people complain about grad students getting the bulk of faculty attention and, worse, about grad students doing lots of the teaching in undergraduate courses—and being inexperienced, bad teachers to boot. We don't deny that these can be problems. But undergraduate students can benefit from hanging out with grad students. Often grad students are willing to mentor and advise undergraduates about careers, and, yes, graduate school. And their devotion and serious involvement with learning sets a great example for undergrads to follow.

8. You get a chance to take graduate courses—if you're up to it . For a student who is really interested and serious about a field, there is nothing more rewarding than taking a graduate course. These courses are more advanced and specialized than any undergraduate course, and they give you a taste of what it's like to play in the big leagues. And this can be an opportunity for students to make the critical leap from just mastering a field to actually advancing the field through their own discoveries.

9. You could get an advantage for admission to graduate and professional schools . Graduate and professional schools tend to think that students from research universities will be better trained than students coming from smaller colleges, especially when the research universities have faculty members who are well known in the field. Graduate and professional schools put extra faith in letters of recommendation that come from professors whose names they know. It's the top researchers in the field who have the best name recognition.

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10. You can network with distinguished and well-placed people in the field . Researchers generally have great connections and can help their students get networked with key players in the field. These days many researchers will take students with them to conferences and introduce them around. This is a great way to get established in a field and launch yourself in a job or career.

[Read 6 Mistakes New Grads Make in Their First Jobs ]

One final note: We do not mean to suggest here that no faculty teaching at colleges are engaged in research and that every faculty member at a research university is doing research. There are fantastic researchers who work at colleges, and faculty at research universities who view tenure as their license to loaf. Nevertheless, in general, research universities expect faculty to spend a large portion of their time on research, while colleges generally expect less research.

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What Is a Research University?

In my last blog post I complained that too many high school students pick schools based primarily on size. And most of these students only want to look at schools that are large. Here is where I vented: Do You Know the Difference Between A College and University? What’s more important, I argued, is a school’s mission. Today, I want to explore a bit about what the mission is for large research institutions.

Research Universities

The prime mission of private and state flagship research universities is to generate research and produce graduate students. Schools like Yale, UCLA, MIT, University of Wisconsin and the University of Texas attract professors who enjoy stellar credential in their fields of study. Undergraduates foot much of the tab for these expensive graduate programs and for star professors who rarely ever teach. While producing graduate students is labor intensive, it’s much cheaper to teach undergrads because they can be taught in large lecture halls. And guess who ends up interacting with these undergrads the most? Graduate students. Particularly in the sciences, grad students often get their degrees for free and in return they teach undergraduates. Does this arrangement mean that students who attend large universities, particularly state institutions, will be corralled into large lecture-style classes for four (or more) years? In some cases, that’s exactly what’s going to happen, but not in others. You can learn a great deal about universities by reading a book that I’ve been recommending a lot, The Thinking Student’s Guide to College , which I wrote about in a previous blog post.

Getting Personal Attention at a Research University

How do you get personal attention if you attend a research university? Pursuing a major that isn’t impacted may also lead to smaller classes. Honor colleges within state universities can be another way to avoid some monster lecture-hall courses for the brightest students. Here is where you can learn more about honor colleges . You should also contact faculty at a university — email is probably your best bet — and ask what is the average class size for introductory classes and what is the average class size once you get into your major. You should also ask students who attend the university and/or recently graduated this question. They would have no motivation to buffalo you. Earlier this year, I met a recent UCLA graduate, who had earned an English degree. One of the first things that I asked him was how many students were in his English classes. While the young man said his professors were smart, he shared that he had been frustrated because the class sizes were too large. Even his upper-division English classes had at least 100 students in them. Consequently, he never got to know his professors. The UCLA English major did smile, however, when he recalled the one class that he truly loved. He took a senior English seminar class with just 15 students. He said he worked so hard in that class and thoroughly enjoyed it because of the intimate setting.

Undergraduates at Harvard

You shouldn’t assume that just because you attend a private research university that your professors will be more accessible and you will be able to skip lecture-style learning. I begin my book, The College Solution , with a story that appeared in The New York Times that focused on a movement at Harvard to improve the undergraduate education. Here’s an excerpt: A curious story appeared in The New York Times one day about the university that’s the academic equivalent of the Yankees. The article captured the concerns of faculty, who worry that the teaching taking place at Harvard University isn’t meeting the school’s own vaunted standards. In fact, a professor lamented that some undergraduates, after spending four years at Harvard, don’t know a single faculty member well enough to ask for a letter of recommendation. (Here is the link to the story: Harvard Task Force Calls for New Focus on Teaching and Not Just Research .) Hmmm. One student, who was interviewed, suggested that undergraduates ought to know that professors are too focused on research to put much effort into what happens in the classroom. “You’d be stupid if you came to Harvard for the teaching,” a Harvard senior and a Rhodes scholar told the Times’ reporter. “You go to a liberal arts college for teaching. You come to Harvard to be around some of the greatest minds on earth.” And he had more to say: “I think many people (at Harvard) spend a great deal of their time in large lecture classes, have little direct contact with professors, and are frustrated by poorly trained teaching fellows.” So what’s the bottom line? If you want an excellent academic fit, you’ll need to do a lot more than look at the size and reputation of a university. Please dig deeper! Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution , an Amazon bestseller, and she also write a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch. Follow her on Twitter .

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What is Undergraduate Research?

What is undergraduate research.

Research is a creative and systematic process of asking questions and discovering new knowledge. Any student, regardless of major, year, or experience, can get involved in undergraduate research.

“Find what you love! The sheer abundance of research opportunities at UW can be overwhelming. Take the time to explore what you like.” Sophia Mar Biochemistry Undergraduate

Frequently asked questions about undergraduate research:

Many students who answered these questions are Undergraduate Research Leaders (URLs) with the Office of Undergraduate Research . Click here to learn about the URL program.

Do I need prior research experience(s) to participate in undergraduate research?

No! Most people don’t have any experience with research before college, so it is more than okay to reach out before you have any formal research experience. I would encourage everyone interested in research to look into professors or researchers who conduct research on topics that you are interested in and email them to ask if they have any space in their lab! – Megana Shivakumar

View Megana’s URL profile here .

You definitely do not need prior experience to start researching as an undergrad! Most professors/UW programs supporting undergrad research are more than happy to support students through their first research experience. If you have found a topic or program that interests you, your interest is enough to make you a valuable member of the research process. Also, each research project/lab/program is completely different and will be a new starting point for each person involved even if they already have research experience. – Ruby Barone

When is a good time to start research and/or apply for a research opportunity?

Everyone has a different path to research! I started in high school through a Biomedical Sciences class and continued research at the UW through a summer program before freshman year. With this being said, you do not have to start research this early on. Some students begin research after the fall or winter quarter of Freshman year while others wait until Sophomore year. Personally, I took a break from research my sophomore year and just participated in summer research through an internship. Currently, I am starting in a different lab, so don’t worry about starting later into your undergraduate year as a junior. However, I would suggest reaching out sooner rather than later, so you do not wait until your senior year because you may not have enough time to learn whether you enjoy research or not. – Nisha BK

View Nisha’s URL profile here .

Can/should I do research before I’m in a major?

Yes! I would definitely encourage students to look into getting involved with research before they’re in their major so that you can learn more about the specific topics within your major that interest you. In addition, many PIs like to work with students earlier in their college career so that you can spend more time working in their lab and specializing in your skill set. It’s never too early to start! – Megana Shivakumar

Can I do research outside of my major?

You absolutely can! I conduct research in a Microbiology lab as a Biochemistry major. My research provides me with insight into the unique workings of biochemical assays specifically used with bacteria. For example, I research DNA replication proteins and am working to determine the biochemical mechanism of action for protein-protein interactions that are unique to bacteria using both in-vivo and in-vitro assays. Additionally, many fields are interdisciplinary in their research: in my lab, I get to work with aspects of Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry. Having a different major from your research topic can make you a unique asset to a research group, as you may be better equipped to answer questions in ways that come from your major compared to the field of the research you participate in. If you’re passionate about the topic, I would encourage you to pursue the research opportunity! – Tara Young

View Tara’s URL profile here .

Are there research opportunities for students in arts and humanities? (Can only STEM students get involved in research?)

This is one big misconception that I have come across at UW – that research is only STEM-related. This is wrong!! UW has tons of great opportunities for research in the humanities – for example, the Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities is a summer program that supports students through an arts/humanities-centered research project based around a common theme (selected students also receive a financial award and course credit!). The Mary Gates Endowment awards research scholarships to students from all disciplines, and many UW professors in the arts/humanities are also happy to have students reach out to them with research interests that can be pursued on a more one-on-one level with a mentor or instructor. – Ruby Barone

What do research experiences look like in the arts/humanities? Do you bring ideas or is there an assigned project?

Research in the arts/humanities is a lot less structured than how lab-based research and experiments might flow – students can create a research style and project that is tailored to their individual topic and interests, which allows projects to take form as research essays, art forms, performances, video essays, and the list goes on. For research programs like the Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities, and for more individualized research that one might work with a faculty member on, you are highly encouraged to bring your own interests and passions to the table. Your mentor(s) will likely provide a basic framework for the final project you are aiming to produce, but they also allow a lot of room for creativity and your own interpretation of your research to take place. For example, my last big research project took form as both a formal research project and an art piece, which ended up being displayed in UW libraries and the UW office of research. Research in the arts/humanities is very fluid, and your project’s form will likely evolve as you learn more about your topic. – Ruby Barone

If I started a research project in high school, can I continue it as an undergraduate?

If you began a research project in high school, it is absolutely up to you and your research mentor whether you want to continue it into your undergraduate career. If you feel passionate and excited about your research, don’t feel obligated to switch topics as you enter undergraduate research. However, I would say that the transition to college can be a great time to try new things and extend yourself as a researcher to learn new skills, techniques, and about new topics! You have a lot of years to experiment with new things. Anecdotally, the research I participated in during high school in seismology is completely different from the research I conduct now in microbiology, and I really value having had that experience in gaining skills in a more “dry lab” environment. Although I now work in a wet lab, there are many skills that can carry over, and it allows you to get a better sense of what excites you as a researcher. – Tara Young

How many hours per week are undergraduates expected to dedicate to research?

It depends. Most professors in STEM fields, from my understanding, expect approximately 9-12 hours per week. That said, you can fulfill these hours whenever it works best with your schedule. Moreover, all professors understand that you are a student first. If there are weeks where you have several exams, for example, or are particularly busy with schoolwork, communicate this to your research mentor! Odds are they will understand that you can’t work on your project as much as usual and it will be totally ok. – Carson Butcher

View Carson’s URL profile here .

How long (how many terms, how many hours per week) are you expected to be in a research experience?

For research in the STEM fields, mentors usually expect 10 hours per week of time commitment. However, it does not mean that you will and must do 10 hours of work every week. You would start easy with ~3 hours per week of training, getting yourself familiarized with the research methodology and protocols. As you gain familiarity and confidence in research methods, you can be more independent and conduct more experiments based on your interest, therefore spending more time in the lab. Mentors usually expect a long-term commitment of a minimum 1 year, and it is reasonable: most of the training, whether wet lab work or computational work, would require at least a quarter of training to gain confidence. You are left with two quarters (or more) of independent research to learn, grow and contribute. – Teng-Jui Lin

View Carson’s Teng-Jui’s profile here .

Can you apply to get basic research skills even if you don’t want a project or without having a specific goal in mind?

I recently transitioned to a new lab, and I do not have a specific project I am working on. I am mostly learning basic biomedical science lab bench work even though I have prior experience. My mentor encouraged me to start from the beginning as if I had no previous experience, so I can relearn the fundamentals. If you want to develop basic research skills, I would highly recommend applying because you will spend time learning techniques in the beginning and your mentor will be there to supervise you. – Nisha BK.

How do you balance schoolwork, work, life, home-life with research?

As a student who juggles a full course load and anywhere between 5-10 extracurriculars every quarter, I understand the struggle of maintaining a healthy work-life balance! Something that has always helped me is organizing my life into a calendar and being very intentional with how I spend my time. Especially when it comes to research, I set clear boundaries with my mentors about when I’ll be working. It also helps that I love everything that I do—I get to study neuroscience, do research, direct a mentorship program, and do a communications internship. It’s so rewarding when you get to do work that you are genuinely passionate about. But of course, we can’t be productive all the time. Make sure to prioritize your health and give yourself time to rest and recharge! – Shannon Hong

View Shannon’s URL profile here .

Additional Resources

View the UW Libraries Undergraduate Research Tutorial module: Finding Your Balance

Anyone can participate in research and the Office of Undergraduate Research can help!

If you are curious about a subject and can find a mentor who is willing to support your endeavor, you can participate in research. The Office of Undergraduate Research is here to help you find research opportunities and mentors who can help you reach your goals. Check out a variety of undergraduate research projects below!

Jasmine Mae

Jasmine did undergraduate research on the Supreme Courts of the Philippines.

Learn more!

Matthew Nguyen

Matthew is pursuing research to find novel therapy for late-stage prostate cancer.

Meron Girma

Meron conducted research on healthcare accessibility within Ethiopia.

Abi worked to understand the impact of legal discourse on Seattle’s history of racially segregated schools.

Anika Lindley

Anika studied the association between aggression and social functioning in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Daniel Piacitelli

Daniel studies cosmological emissions in metal spectral lines as an Astronomy and Physics student.

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What is Academic Research?

After completing this module you will be able to:

recognize why information exists, who creates it, and how information of all kinds can be valuable, even when it’s biased.
understand what scholarly research is, how to find it, how the process of peer-review works, and how it gets published.
identify types of databases and understand why databases are critical for academic research

How to use this module

This module is organized into a number of pages. To navigate, you can either:

use the “Previous” and “Next” buttons at the bottom of each page (suggested)

Example screenshot of bottom navigation buttons used in this tutorial.

follow the links in the “Contents” menu on the left side of the page

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Undergraduate Research at Vanderbilt

What is undergraduate research, the council for undergraduate research defines undergraduate research as “an inquiry or investigation conducted by an undergraduate student that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline.”.

Though many people falsely assume that only professors or graduate students are involved in research, in reality research is integrated into many of our undergraduate academic courses and is featured as the capstone experience in a number of majors. Undergraduate research runs the gamut from biology research in a laboratory to music performance at a senior honors recital. While “research” may conjure images of white lab coats or stacks of leather bound library books, creative activities expand the definition of research to a modern and interdisciplinary realm. From 2D artwork to live performances to artistic historical investigations, many Vanderbilt students expand their academic experiences to a stage, a gallery, or popular media. Many of our undergraduate students also conduct interdisciplinary research across majors, fields, and schools.

Research can also take place in many places and at many times. Vanderbilt offers an exceptional number of opportunities for undergraduate students to do research over the summer, but many students also partake in research right alongside their classwork in Fall and Spring semesters. And although many students do research right here at Vanderbilt, many students also travel to other universities, other cities, other countries, or are supported by types of institutions like government laboratories or privately owned corporations and foundations. Finally, students are not limited by class year, as students from all four years regularly partake in research.

Samples of recent undergraduate research projects and creative activities include:

-Examining the relationship between speech patterns and language in music

-Traveling to New York City to study performing art as a form of activism

-Measuring lung cancer cell growth and drug response in different tissue environments

-Comparing the acoustic properties of speech for preschool students who stutter and those who do not

-Studying corruption in Latin America to predict the public’s acceptance of a military coup

-Working on an archaeological dig in Peru

-Assisting a visiting art professor build bikes with battery powered stereos

-Using an unpublished 15th century book from the Vanderbilt library collection to see how the text and images support women’s devotions in the Middle Ages

-Shadowing and analyzing the behavior of school principles in different school settings

-Creating and updating Wikipedia articles for the Vanderbilt Library Special Collections

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Office of Undergraduate Research

Why undergraduate research.

Developing mentoring relationships

Mentors play a critically important role in students’ research and creative experiences, challenging students to try new things and offering a window onto the thinking of an experienced researcher or practitioner. A mentor who knows you well can advise you about your undergraduate career and your next steps after graduation; s/he will also be able to write a more detailed letter of recommendation than a professor who knows you only in a classroom context.

> What do students say?

Making a big campus feel smaller.

Participation in research, scholarship, or creative activity can help you find your niche on campus. The close relationships that are developed through sustained work together give a sense of community to research groups, labs, and teams.

Changing your perspective on ignorance and failure

Scholarly inquiry has a way of putting all that you do not know into stark relief, while rarely working quite as expected. As you learn to think like a researcher, you begin to see ignorance and failure not as personal shortcomings but as opportunities to ask questions, reframe problems, and try new approaches.

Cultivating an understanding of research design and methodology

Hands-on experience conducting original research supports students’ understanding of how to design investigations, how to make appropriate methodological choices, and how to implement different techniques and methods.

Developing a range of transferable skills

While some of your learning will be research-specific, undergraduate research also develops transferable skills with broad application, including critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, and independence.

Exploring career and graduate education options

Undergraduate research and creative activity offer students opportunities to gain hands-on experience in fields of interest to them. This experience often prompts realizations about what kinds of work students enjoy most and what career paths they wish to pursue.

More From Forbes

The role of research at universities: why it matters.

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(Photo by William B. Plowman/Getty Images)

Teaching and learning, research and discovery, synthesis and creativity, understanding and engagement, service and outreach. There are many “core elements” to the mission of a great university. Teaching would seem the most obvious, but for those outside of the university, “research” (taken to include scientific research, scholarship more broadly, as well as creative activity) may be the least well understood. This creates misunderstanding of how universities invest resources, especially those deriving from undergraduate tuition and state (or other public) support, and the misperception that those resources are being diverted away from what is believed should be the core (and sole) focus, teaching. This has led to a loss of trust, confidence, and willingness to continue to invest or otherwise support (especially our public) universities.

Why are universities engaged in the conduct of research? Who pays? Who benefits? And why does it all matter? Good questions. Let’s get to some straightforward answers. Because the academic research enterprise really is not that difficult to explain, and its impacts are profound.

So let’s demystify university-based research. And in doing so, hopefully we can begin building both better understanding and a better relationship between the public and higher education, both of which are essential to the future of US higher education.

Why are universities engaged in the conduct of research?

Universities engage in research as part of their missions around learning and discovery. This, in turn, contributes directly and indirectly to their primary mission of teaching. Universities and many colleges (the exception being those dedicated exclusively to undergraduate teaching) have as part of their mission the pursuit of scholarship. This can come in the form of fundamental or applied research (both are most common in the STEM fields, broadly defined), research-based scholarship or what often is called “scholarly activity” (most common in the social sciences and humanities), or creative activity (most common in the arts). Increasingly, these simple categorizations are being blurred, for all good reasons and to the good of the discovery of new knowledge and greater understanding of complex (transdisciplinary) challenges and the creation of increasingly interrelated fields needed to address them.

It goes without saying that the advancement of knowledge (discovery, innovation, creation) is essential to any civilization. Our nation’s research universities represent some of the most concentrated communities of scholars, facilities, and collective expertise engaged in these activities. But more importantly, this is where higher education is delivered, where students develop breadth and depth of knowledge in foundational and advanced subjects, where the skills for knowledge acquisition and understanding (including contextualization, interpretation, and inference) are honed, and where students are educated, trained, and otherwise prepared for successful careers. Part of that training and preparation derives from exposure to faculty who are engaged at the leading-edge of their fields, through their research and scholarly work. The best faculty, the teacher-scholars, seamlessly weave their teaching and research efforts together, to their mutual benefit, and in a way that excites and engages their students. In this way, the next generation of scholars (academic or otherwise) is trained, research and discovery continue to advance inter-generationally, and the cycle is perpetuated.

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University research can be expensive, particularly in laboratory-intensive fields. But the responsibility for much (indeed most) of the cost of conducting research falls to the faculty member. Faculty who are engaged in research write grants for funding (e.g., from federal and state agencies, foundations, and private companies) to support their work and the work of their students and staff. In some cases, the universities do need to invest heavily in equipment, facilities, and personnel to support select research activities. But they do so judiciously, with an eye toward both their mission, their strategic priorities, and their available resources.

Medical research, and medical education more broadly, is expensive and often requires substantial institutional investment beyond what can be covered by clinical operations or externally funded research. But universities with medical schools/medical centers have determined that the value to their educational and training missions as well as to their communities justifies the investment. And most would agree that university-based medical centers are of significant value to their communities, often providing best-in-class treatment and care in midsize and smaller communities at a level more often seen in larger metropolitan areas.

Research in the STEM fields (broadly defined) can also be expensive. Scientific (including medical) and engineering research often involves specialized facilities or pieces of equipment, advanced computing capabilities, materials requiring controlled handling and storage, and so forth. But much of this work is funded, in large part, by federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy, US Department of Agriculture, and many others.

Research in the social sciences is often (not always) less expensive, requiring smaller amount of grant funding. As mentioned previously, however, it is now becoming common to have physical, natural, and social scientist teams pursuing large grant funding. This is an exciting and very promising trend for many reasons, not the least of which is the nature of the complex problems being studied.

Research in the arts and humanities typically requires the least amount of funding as it rarely requires the expensive items listed previously. Funding from such organizations as the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and private foundations may be able to support significant scholarship and creation of new knowledge or works through much more modest grants than would be required in the natural or physical sciences, for example.

Philanthropy may also be directed toward the support of research and scholarly activity at universities. Support from individual donors, family foundations, private or corporate foundations may be directed to support students, faculty, labs or other facilities, research programs, galleries, centers, and institutes.

Who benefits?

Students, both undergraduate and graduate, benefit from studying in an environment rich with research and discovery. Besides what the faculty can bring back to the classroom, there are opportunities to engage with faculty as part of their research teams and even conduct independent research under their supervision, often for credit. There are opportunities to learn about and learn on state-of-the-art equipment, in state-of-the-art laboratories, and from those working on the leading edge in a discipline. There are opportunities to co-author, present at conferences, make important connections, and explore post-graduate pathways.

The broader university benefits from active research programs. Research on timely and important topics attracts attention, which in turn leads to greater institutional visibility and reputation. As a university becomes known for its research in certain fields, they become magnets for students, faculty, grants, media coverage, and even philanthropy. Strength in research helps to define a university’s “brand” in the national and international marketplace, impacting everything from student recruitment, to faculty retention, to attracting new investments.

The community, region, and state benefits from the research activity of the university. This is especially true for public research universities. Research also contributes directly to economic development, clinical, commercial, and business opportunities. Resources brought into the university through grants and contracts support faculty, staff, and student salaries, often adding additional jobs, contributing directly to the tax base. Research universities, through their expertise, reputation, and facilities, can attract new businesses into their communities or states. They can also launch and incubate startup companies, or license and sell their technologies to other companies. Research universities often host meeting and conferences which creates revenue for local hotels, restaurants, event centers, and more. And as mentioned previously, university medical centers provide high-quality medical care, often in midsize communities that wouldn’t otherwise have such outstanding services and state-of-the-art facilities.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

And finally, why does this all matter?

Research is essential to advancing society, strengthening the economy, driving innovation, and addressing the vexing and challenging problems we face as a people, place, and planet. It’s through research, scholarship, and discovery that we learn about our history and ourselves, understand the present context in which we live, and plan for and secure our future.

Research universities are vibrant, exciting, and inspiring places to learn and to work. They offer opportunities for students that few other institutions can match – whether small liberal arts colleges, mid-size teaching universities, or community colleges – and while not right for every learner or every educator, they are right for many, if not most. The advantages simply cannot be ignored. Neither can the importance or the need for these institutions. They need not be for everyone, and everyone need not find their way to study or work at our research universities, and we stipulate that there are many outstanding options to meet and support different learning styles and provide different environments for teaching and learning. But it’s critically important that we continue to support, protect, and respect research universities for all they do for their students, their communities and states, our standing in the global scientific community, our economy, and our nation.

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What is undergraduate research, what is research.

Research across disciplines is the systematic production of new knowledge . The process often includes the following:

Developing a research question(s);
Identifying where the research question(s) fits within existing knowledge, often accomplished through a literature review;
Designing the method of investigating the question and securing the appropriate permissions to conduct your research;
Collecting and analyzing data/materials, drawing conclusions from that analysis;
Writing about, presenting and publishing your findings.

You can read more about how "research" is defined nationally by the NSF/OECD Frascati Manual (an applicable definition across disciplines and fields) here .

What is undergraduate research and creative inquiry?

In keeping with national definitions, CCRF defines undergraduate research as follows:

Undergraduate research is a scholarly or creative investigation that contributes to the systematic production of new knowledge; it is a meaningful activity undertaken with the guidance of a faculty member or other research mentor(s) and is used to enrich the College academic curriculum and student experience through enhanced critical thinking skills and a greater understanding of a chosen discipline(s) and its methodologies.

CCRF joins the Council on Undergraduate Research in their endorsement of scholarship by Drs. Jeffrey M. Osborn and Kerry K. Karukstis who argue that four common threads must run through every undergraduate research activity on any campus:

Mentorship. A serious, collaborative interaction between the faculty mentor and student, in which the student is intellectually engaged in the scholarly problem or project
Originality. The student makes a meaningful and authentic contribution to the scholarly problem or project, and the work must be entirely or partially novel
Acceptability. Employing techniques and methodologies that are appropriate and recognized by the discipline with a problem or project that includes a reflective and synthetic component
Dissemination. Includes a final tangible product for which both the process and results are peer-reviewed, juried, or judged in a manner consistent with disciplinary standards

The term “undergraduate research” encompasses faculty- or discipline-expert directed scholarly research activities and creative endeavors. CCRF recognizes that these experiences may range from historical scholarship, curatorial research, and laboratory experiences to music composition, creative writing, dramaturgy and data analysis in the social sciences.

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College-Bound Colorado

What does undergraduate research really look like?

When people say, “research”, what do they mean? A quick search on the internet, usually. But in college, research takes on a whole new meaning.

A young woman and a professor look at a collected vial. They are on a boat.

Jason Keller February 22, 2019

When people say “research,” what do they mean? A quick search on the internet, usually. But in college, research takes on a whole new meaning. At its core, research is looking for the answer to a question that someone else hasn't already answered, building on the body of human knowledge. It's a key part of graduate programs and many career fields — so it's especially valuable to start getting research experience as an undergraduate.

Undergraduate research experience can look like a number of things, according to Janice Dickensheets, faculty fellow in the Office of Undergraduate Research at UNC. It can range from formal, clinical studies, to helping run a publication (like UNC's PUGS or UAP ), to creative works and beyond.

Research seeks to answer questions you can’t look up on your own or to develop things not yet created.

Research should present falsifiable claims and findings that haven't been uncovered yet. A falsifiable claim is a claim that can be disproven by countering studies or statements. As the blog Explorable puts it:

Falsifiability is the assertion that for any hypothesis to have credence, it must be inherently disprovable before it can become accepted as a scientific hypothesis or theory.

Basically, the more a piece of research can stand up to scholarly critiques, the more compelling the research. It should have some mechanism which might allow others to disprove it. This is an important part of the scientific method. Creative work, naturally, is an original piece, and might not be falsifiable.

Every research topic looks different.

The research approach for undergraduates differs depending on the field and focus of research, Dickensheets says. Some common types include working with faculty on their research, enrolling in a research program and conducting your own studies, or even creative endeavors. The actual nature of your research could carry you to the lab to conduct experiments and dissections or across the world to study poaching of endangered animals.

A lot of the time, it’s interdisciplinary.

Undergraduate research can cross disciplines. A student studying cello techniques of the 19th and 20th century might also need to conduct statistical analyses to understand which notes appear most often. Or a doctor trying to figure out if a medicine works could not only take detailed blood samples, but also ask the subjects how the medicine made them feel and then write up a paper on it.

Research can be artistic.

In some institutions, research might look like a manuscript, a book of poems or a sculpture. More traditional types of research include qualitative research (finding answers about the quality of something, such as by interviewing someone about their experience being raised by their grandparents) and quantitative research (using numbers to find answers, such as by conducting a survey where people answer questions about being raised by their grandparents "on a scale of 1-7").

It’s possible to get grants or even get paid.

Some research institutions, such as UNC, provide funds to help facilitate research, fund studies and present at conferences. In some institutions, it might even be possible for undergraduate researchers to take a paid research position in lieu of a job, earning them research experience and also payment. UNC offers stipends and grants to its undergraduate researchers.

Research can be a great way to improve critical thinking…

According to both Dickensheets and a paper written at Samford University by John K. Petrella and Alan P. Jung, undergraduate research can help students understand how the scientific method works or aid them in their ability to answer difficult or abstract questions.

“I think the biggest benefit to undergraduate research is the ability to be a critical thinker. It is one of the places where a student can’t just get away with memorizing and regurgitating answers. They have to think about the question at hand. Figure out what research the world has already done, and posit a solution, interpretation or summarization (generally) of that research, often providing answers or other questions that can become the impetus for additional research.” – Janice Dickensheets

Meet mentors…

Undergraduate research likely will require you to have a faculty member standing by to help you conduct and refine your research or answer any questions you might have. Often times the student will be asked to go and find their own faculty mentor, so it’s important to find one that aligns with your research interests.

…or position yourself well for graduate school.

“You go to graduate school to do research, so they want to know that you can do research and that you’ll be good at it,” says Matthew Paoletti, then a graduate student studying for his doctorate in physics, in a 2007 Sciencemag.org article . According to the article, 74 percent of graduate students in chemistry had some research experience prior to grad school. A good GPA isn’t nearly as impressive to admissions counselors as a published paper is, according to the University of Illinois press .

Interested in researching at the undergraduate level? Come visit UNC, and visit the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Honors Program .

Jason Keller
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Undergraduate Research

What research means to me.

What research have you done?

“At the University of Missouri, I have worked on an undergraduate research project in the soil physics lab for the last two years. My project focuses on how biofuel crop production may influence the speed at which water moves through soil, the amount of water retained in the soil, and the bulk density of the soil (dry soil per volume). I have primarily focused on this topic while here at the university, but prior to that, while in high school, I was very active in the FFA agriscience competitions. That informal research focused largely on pollinator preservation and identifying natural, pollinator-friendly insect repellents.”

In your own words, what is the significance of research? What does it mean to you?

“Research is incredibly significant because it is how our species has continued to progress throughout history. It is research that first spurred the concepts of farming, building and medicine thousands of years ago, as these ideas had to be tested at some point. Research continues to change how we interpret even the most mundane things every day. To me, research is the answer to many of the growing issues we face today. Be it climate change or the coronavirus, research is the only way to fully understand what problems we currently face, what is yet to come, and how best to deal with it. Research is the key to finding answers to a multitude of questions, such as sustainably feeding our already overpopulated world or producing lifesaving vaccines.”

Do you think people have misconceptions about what research is?

“I feel there is a large disconnect between how people view research and how broad it really is. Some people see it as a this “notebook and pencil” image when in truth most people conduct research every day. Whenever someone takes a different path home from work, searching for a quicker way, that person is in that moment testing a hypothesis. When engineers are given an artsy design for a future structure, they often research a new way of building this unique structure in order to maintain its longevity and safety. When designers sew a new clothing design, plant breeders cross a new combination of genetic lines, or whenever one tries an old family recipe with a little more ground pepper, research is conducted. “

How has research informed/changed your education experience?

“Participating in research hasn’t as much changed my educational experience as it has enriched it. Conducting research has helped me to better understand my studies, making me a better student and future job applicant. Research has left me more disciplined and skilled, preparing me for advanced academic pursuits in graduate school and later in the workforce. For me, the best thing about my research experience has been the advice provided me by my adviser, Dr. Stephen Anderson. His insights on how to conduct research have been one of the richest learning experiences of my life.”

What do you plan on doing after college? Has your experience with research influenced what you want to do with your life?

“After graduating in May, I plan to attend graduate school, pursuing a PhD in Soil Science. Prior to conducting research, I had no further educational plans past receiving my bachelor’s degree and now I am on a path to achieving one of the highest academic titles in my field. As a first-generation student, I owe a great deal to the McNair Scholars Program for encouraging my involvement in undergraduate research. Thanks to my experiences as an undergraduate researcher, I have found my passion and identified future career goals as a researcher.”

The Power of Research Projects in College Admissions

Janos Perczel , former Harvard research fellow and co-founder of Polygence , discusses how research projects and working with mentors can help students stand out to universities, and the role IECs can play in this effort.

How research shaped my academic path

I was fortunate to have a physics teacher in high school, who took an early interest in mentoring and nurturing me as a researcher. We dove deep into the strange world of relativity and quantum mechanics and read original texts from Einstein and Heisenberg about space-time manifolds and Schrödinger’s cat. Under my mentor’s guidance, I wrote early research papers that allowed me to explore these topics in depth and hone my abilities as a researcher. These early experiences set me up for success as a researcher in college and led me to pursue research in quantum physics during my doctorate at MIT and while a research fellow at Harvard.

Research is a critical product of higher education

The DNA, the radar, game theory and the Google search algorithm were all discovered at top research institutions, such asCambridge, MIT, Princeton and Stanford. Research at these top universities (so-called R1s) is a collaborative effort between professors, graduate students and undergraduates. This is why these schools look for students who are capable of doing high-quality independent academic work when evaluating prospective applicants. It is important to note that even at predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs) students engage in serious research, because such an open-ended activity cultivates creativity, persistence, and team spirit in students.

Research helps students stand out

According to the U.S. News and World Report , “High school students who have an impressive personal project they are working on independently often impress colleges, because their commitment to a successful solo endeavor conveys initiative, self-discipline and originality”.

The reason for this is simple. High school grades are often terrible predictors of future success (Sir John Gurdon, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine ranked last out of 250 in his year group at biology). Similarly, test scores, AP exams and summer camps with a set curriculum give students little opportunity to showcase their academic creativity and intellectual rigor. This makes it difficult for colleges to identify the most promising students, especially if they have a non-traditional background.

In contrast, a research project is by definition a unique and highly personal achievement that allows students to showcase their intellectual abilities at their best. This is why colleges encourage students to distinguish themselves through independent projects. For instance, MIT even has a creative portfolio section for all students to upload a significant research project as part of their application. Independent projects are gaining even more importance as college admissions are shifting away from standardized test scores (e.g. the University of California recently decided to phase out SAT/ACT scores completely).

How to find a research mentor

Few high school students ever get the chance to connect with a mentor at a deep level and get the attention and guidance needed to pursue an impactful research project. One potential remedy is to encourage students to reach out to researchers through their personal networks or via cold emails. However, often even the most experienced educational consultants are unsure how to help their students do this. While best practices vary depending on the field, general advice can be summarized as follows:

Identify someone with the right expertise Surprisingly often students reach out to a researcher whose research area is only tangentially related to what the student wants to pursue. The more relevant the student’s proposed project to the researcher’s field, the less effort it will be to provide mentorship, making a positive response more likely.
Show demonstrated interest Many students claim interest in advanced fields like AI, astrophysics or WWII history, but few students make the effort to explore these fields in depth despite the wealth of available resources online, such as edX, Khan Academy and even Wikipedia. Researchers do not have the bandwidth or interest to teach students the absolute basics and will likely only engage with students, who would genuinely benefit from guidance with advanced topics.
Articulate what help is needed Researchers often have very busy schedules and fear taking on additional responsibilities that involve a lot of handholding. If a student clearly states what kind of help she wants to receive (e.g. identifying relevant papers to read, understanding a particularly challenging concept or getting feedback on a journal submission draft) the researcher can better estimate how much time commitment the mentorship will involve.

It is important to note that students can do a research project even without a mentor. It just takes resilience and focus to push through the inevitable tough patches without getting discouraged. Educational consultants can play a key role in ensuring that students stay motivated throughout the process. By definition a research question has not been answered before and a student cannot be sure whether they will succeed in finding the result they are looking for. Research is also a relatively slow process (the relevant time scale is months), which is often daunting to students who are used to quick feedback loops, such as getting an A in a test they sat last week.

How to showcase a project

Students working on a project by themselves also need additional support and encouragement to find the right avenue to showcase their work. Educational consultants can assist students by making them aware of high school journals (e.g. the Journal of Youths in Science or the Concord Review ), science competitions (like the Regeneron ISEF Competition ) and other creative outlets (like Spotify ) for showcasing their work. Each journal, competition and publishing platform has its own formatting requirements for submissions and it is important that educational consultants instruct students to follow the submission guidelines closely to ensure successful publication.

A research academy for high schoolers: Polygence

Some students may find it helpful to find a research mentor through the online research academy, Polygence , which I co-founded with Jin Chow , a comparative literature scholar from Stanford University. Students at Polygence work with an academic mentor one-on-one for 3-6 months to develop an in-depth research project. Mentors guide them from idea to execution and presentation. Polygence students have done projects ranging from using AI to detect gender bias in the media and modelling the spread of infectious diseases , to studying privacy law violations by tech companies and exploring 20th century fashion history. Upon project completion, students publish papers in high school journals, create podcasts and present at leading scholarly conferences.

In Conclusion

Regardless of whether a student finds a research mentor through a cold email, personal connections, Polygence , or with the support of their education consultant, the key to success is for students to find joy in what they are doing and to keep going despite inevitable challenges. Thus educational consultants can set up their students for success by encouraging them to pursue a topic that they find genuinely interesting and by keeping them going through constant encouragement and feedback.

Janos recently joined the CollegePlannerPro team for a live webinar to discuss this topic at length.

Watch the full recorded webinar below:

How to write a rockstar blog post, the recipe for success for the independent educational consultant.

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What’s the Difference Between Colleges and Universities

Quick Links: Colleges | Universities | How to Choose

Choosing the right educational path is crucial, and it begins with understanding the key differences between colleges versus universities. From the broad array of academic options to the varied social and cultural environments, knowing which of the two is better suited to your educational and career aspirations is essential.

This guide provides the critical information needed to determine which institution aligns best with your goals. Let’s get started!

What are Colleges?

Colleges primarily focus on undergraduate education, typically offering associate's and bachelor’s degrees. Without graduate programs, these institutions can direct more resources towards undergraduate teaching, allowing for smaller class sizes and personalized instruction. Unlike universities, which often split their focus between teaching and research, colleges prioritize high-quality instruction and student support. This commitment ensures a nurturing academic atmosphere that promotes individual student development. Many colleges also provide specialized professional training alongside traditional academic degrees, addressing a wide range of educational and career goals.

This environment is ideal for students who thrive in intimate settings and prefer direct interaction with their instructors.

Different Types of Colleges

There are several distinct types of colleges, each catering to different educational needs and career paths. Here’s a high-level overview of some common types:

Liberal Arts College: Focus on broad-based education in the arts and sciences, encouraging critical thinking and a well-rounded skill set.
Community College: Offer two-year degrees and certificates with a focus on preparing students for immediate employment or transfer to four-year institutions.
Technical/Trade College: Specialize in vocational training in fields like IT, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Benefits of Attending a College

Choosing to attend a college can offer numerous advantages, particularly for those looking for a focused undergraduate experience. Here are some key benefits:

Smaller Class Sizes: Enhances personal interaction with professors and can lead to a more tailored learning experience.
Focused Curriculum: Less emphasis on research allows for a curriculum that is deeply aligned with undergraduate teaching and learning needs.
Cost-Effective: Typically, colleges have lower tuition rates than universities, making higher education more accessible.
Flexible Scheduling: Many colleges offer part-time, evening, and online classes, which can accommodate students who are working or have other commitments.

Downsides of Attending a College

While there are many benefits to attending a college, there are also potential drawbacks to consider:

Limited Advanced Degrees: Most colleges do not offer graduate programs, which can be a limitation for those seeking advanced degrees.
Fewer Research Opportunities: If you're interested in research, colleges typically offer fewer resources and opportunities in this area compared to universities.
Narrower Networks: Smaller institutions may have smaller alumni networks, which can affect job placement and career advancement opportunities post-graduation.

What are Universities?

Universities are comprehensive educational institutions that offer a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs, including master's and doctoral degrees. These institutions stand out from colleges primarily because they provide advanced degrees, which often involves larger class sizes and a broader educational scope. Unlike colleges, which focus mainly on undergraduate teaching, universities typically balance their educational offerings with significant research activities. This dual focus attracts faculty who are leaders in their fields, contributing to a rich academic culture that encourages scholarly inquiry and innovation. Universities often have the resources to support sophisticated research facilities and grants, enhancing their appeal to students interested in academic and professional research. This environment is ideal for students who desire a diverse academic environment with access to extensive research opportunities and a variety of specialized fields of study.

Benefits of Attending a University

Attending a university comes with several distinct advantages, especially for those interested in academic and professional research:

Diverse Academic Programs: Offers extensive course selections and advanced degrees in various fields.
Research Opportunities: Abundant resources for scholarly and scientific research, including access to grants and advanced technology.
Broader Professional Networks: Larger alumni networks provide greater career and networking opportunities post-graduation.
Cultural and Extracurricular Diversity: Hosts a wide range of cultural, educational, and social activities, enriching student life.

Downsides of Attending a University

However, studying at a university may also present some challenges:

Higher Tuition Costs: Generally more expensive than colleges, with additional fees for graduate studies.
Impersonal Learning Environment: Larger class sizes can result in less personalized attention from instructors.
Competitive Atmosphere: The emphasis on research and academic achievement can create a highly competitive environment.
Complex Navigation: Navigating the administrative and academic structure of large universities can be daunting for students.

Colleges or Universities: How to Know Which is Right for You

Deciding which type of institution to attend lies in understanding the differences between colleges and universities. If you prefer a close-knit community with smaller class sizes and more personalized attention from faculty, a college may be the best fit for you. Conversely, if your goals include engaging in extensive research, pursuing advanced degrees, and exploring a wide range of academic programs, a university might better serve your needs. Evaluate your academic goals and learning preferences to make the right choice.

Class Sizes

Class size is a significant factor to consider when choosing between colleges or universities, as it can significantly impact your learning experience. Colleges often feature smaller class sizes, which fosters a more intimate learning environment where students can easily interact with professors and peers. This setting is ideal for those who seek personal guidance and a community feel in their educational journey.

In contrast, universities tend to have larger class sizes, especially in introductory courses. This can be attributed to their larger student bodies and the breadth of academic offerings. While large classes can make individual attention from faculty more challenging to obtain, they also provide a vibrant atmosphere with diverse perspectives that can enhance collaborative learning and exposure to a wider range of ideas.

Career Path

Choosing the right educational path between a college and a university can be crucial depending on your career goals, particularly because of the difference between colleges and universities in offering advanced degrees. Universities typically provide a range of graduate programs, including Master’s and PhDs, essential for careers that require specialized advanced knowledge such as research, academia, or highly technical professions. This availability makes universities ideal for students who are certain about pursuing extensive studies beyond the undergraduate level.

On the other hand, colleges focus primarily on undergraduate education and usually do not offer the specialized graduate programs found at universities. They cater well to students whose career paths require only bachelor’s degrees or who prioritize immediate practical experience over advanced academic credentials. Understanding this key difference is vital when aligning your educational choices with your long-term professional aspirations.

Campus Experience

The campus experience is a pivotal factor in deciding between colleges versus universities, as it can significantly influence the type of educational and social environment that best suits a student's needs. Colleges often boast smaller campuses, which can foster a tight-knit community feel where students might find it easier to connect with peers and faculty alike. This intimate setting can be particularly beneficial for those who thrive in a close community and prefer a more contained, supportive environment.

In contrast, universities typically feature larger campuses with a more diverse array of facilities, student organizations, and extracurricular activities. This broad range offers students the opportunity to explore varied interests and integrate into a dynamic community with a wide spectrum of cultural, academic, and recreational activities. The extensive campus size and diversity at universities can be ideal for students looking for expansive social opportunities and extensive resources that support a wide variety of learning and personal development goals.

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How exactly does research get funded?

Ever wondered how research funding works? Raghavendra U breaks down the entire process in this resource

Raghavendra U

More on this topic

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Research funding plays a crucial role in fuelling discipline-specific exploration by providing essential financial support to researchers. A variety of organisations including government agencies, private foundations, corporations and universities fund research.

Funding opportunities for researchers are highly competitive. The journey of securing funding begins with identifying various funding agencies that match the researcher’s interests and objectives. You can discover such opportunities via a range of channels/sources including grant databases, funding agency websites and professional networks.

In India, where my institution is based, research funding encompasses a wide range of contributors working together to advance scientific knowledge, foster innovation and tackle the country's developmental hurdles. A significant portion of the government’s budget is dedicated to developing and supporting research activities across various fields. The important government entities for research here include:

• The Department of Science and Technology (DST) • The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) • The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) • The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) • The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) • The Department of Space (DOS) • The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) • The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) • The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The above agencies offer a variety of grant programmes to researchers and institutions that support a wide range of research activities, including basic and applied research, technology development and innovation. Researchers can submit proposals to these agencies detailing their research goals, methodologies and budgetary needs.

Funding possibilities may emerge from bilateral agreements, multilateral partnerships or international funding agencies such as the United Nations, the World Bank and various research councils. Universities, research institutions and academic consortia also play a crucial role in research funding in India. They receive grants from government agencies, private foundations and industry partners to support faculty research, infrastructure development and collaborative projects.

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In addition, private foundations, philanthropic organisations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives also provide support for research funding. These entities typically offer grants, fellowships and scholarships aimed at addressing societal issues or driving development in specific areas. India has one of the most vibrant start-up and innovation ecosystems which has led to the rise of incubators, accelerators and venture capital funds that provide funding and support to early stage research and technology-driven enterprises.

Preparing grant proposals is another challenge for early career researchers. Upon identifying a suitable funding opportunity, researchers must draft a detailed grant proposal that articulates their research objectives, methodologies, anticipated outcomes and budgetary requirements systematically. Researchers must revise these proposals multiple times before submitting them to ensure they adhere to strict formatting and submission requirements.

The submitted proposal then goes through a thorough review process where experts in the relevant field/s evaluate them on criteria such as scientific merit, feasibility, innovation and potential impact. Evaluations by the experts make a significant impact in deciding the outcome of each proposal, helping funding organisations make informed decisions in light of budgetary limitations. Upon approval, successful applicants are notified and establish funding agreements that outline the terms and conditions governing the use of funds.

Once they secure funding, researchers must balance their academic responsibilities while carrying out their proposed research projects according to the timelines and milestones outlined in their grant proposals. They are typically required to provide regular progress reports to the funding agencies to demonstrate accountability and compliance with grant requirements. With funding secured, researchers execute their proposed projects, adhering to timelines and milestones outlined in their grant proposals. Throughout this phase, researchers have to provide regular progress reports to funding agencies, ensuring transparency, accountability and compliance with grant requirements. These reports include tracking expenses, submitting financial reports and complying with any auditing requirements.

As research projects progress, researchers must undertake activities to disseminate knowledge , sharing their findings with the scientific community and wider society. This could involve publishing results in peer-reviewed journals, presenting findings at conferences and other knowledge translation activities. By doing this, researchers enhance the impact of their work, encouraging collaboration and stimulating additional innovation.

Generally, funding agencies undertake assessments to evaluate the impact and outcomes of the research they have supported. These assessments typically involve measuring the scientific contributions, societal benefits and economic returns generated by the funded projects. However, the process of securing research funding is intricate and highly competitive in the higher education sector, yet it serves as a vital mechanism for advancing scientific understanding, nurturing innovation and tackling pressing societal issues.

Raghavendra U is a deputy registrar (administration) at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), India.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, private research university: what does it mean.

Hello, friends! I came across the term 'private research university' while researching colleges. Honestly, I'm a bit confused about what that means and how it differs from other types of universities. Can anyone here explain what a private research university is? I'd appreciate it! :)

Hello! Great question. A private research university is an institution that is primarily focused on conducting research in a wide range of disciplines and is funded mainly through private donations and endowments, rather than government funding. They usually have a higher focus on graduate studies compared to undergraduate education, but this doesn't mean they don't have a strong undergraduate presence.

The main difference between private research universities and public universities is funding and governance. Public universities are funded by the state government and have smaller endowments in comparison. In general, private research universities might have a better student-to-faculty ratio and offer a wider variety of resources available due to their stronger financial situations.

Some examples of private research universities include Stanford University, Harvard University, and Yale University. It's worth looking into each school individually to determine which one aligns with your interests and preferences. Best of luck with your college search!

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Is College Worth It?

As economic outcomes for young adults with and without degrees have improved, americans hold mixed views on the value of college, table of contents.

Labor force trends and economic outcomes for young adults
Economic outcomes for young men
Economic outcomes for young women
Wealth trends for households headed by a young adult
The importance of a four-year college degree
Getting a high-paying job without a college degree
Do Americans think their education prepared them for the workplace?
Is college worth the cost?
Acknowledgments
The American Trends Panel survey methodology
Current Population Survey methodology
Survey of Consumer Finances methodology

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand public views on the importance of a four-year college degree. The study also explores key trends in the economic outcomes of young adults among those who have and have not completed a four-year college degree.

The analysis in this report is based on three data sources. The labor force, earnings, hours, household income and poverty characteristics come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey. The findings on net worth are based on the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances.

The data on public views on the value of a college degree was collected as part of a Center survey of 5,203 U.S. adults conducted Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, 2023. Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Address-based sampling ensures that nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for this report , along with responses, and the survey’s methodology .

Young adults refers to Americans ages 25 to 34.

Noncollege adults include those who have some college education as well as those who graduated from high school but did not attend college. Adults who have not completed high school are not included in the analysis of noncollege adults. About 6% of young adults have not completed high school. Trends in some labor market outcomes for those who have not finished high school are impacted by changes in the foreign-born share of the U.S. population. The Census data used in this analysis did not collect information on nativity before 1994.

Some college includes those with an associate degree and those who attended college but did not obtain a degree.

The some college or less population refers to adults who have some college education, those with a high school diploma only and those who did not graduate high school.

A full-time, full-year worker works at least 50 weeks per year and usually 35 hours a week or more.

The labor force includes all who are employed and those who are unemployed but looking for work.

The labor force participation rate is the share of a population that is in the labor force.

Young adults living independently refers to those who are not living in the home of either of their parents.

Household income is the sum of incomes received by all members of the household ages 15 and older. Income is the sum of earnings from work, capital income such as interest and dividends, rental income, retirement income, and transfer income (such as government assistance) before payments for such things as personal income taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes, union dues, etc. Non-cash transfers such as food stamps, health benefits, subsidized housing and energy assistance are not included. As household income is pretax, it does not include stimulus payments or tax credits for earned income and children/dependent care.

Net worth, or wealth, is the difference between the value of what a household owns (assets) and what it owes (debts).

All references to party affiliation include those who lean toward that party. Republicans include those who identify as Republicans and those who say they lean toward the Republican Party. Democrats include those who identify as Democrats and those who say they lean toward the Democratic Party.

At a time when many Americans are questioning the value of a four-year college degree, economic outcomes for young adults without a degree are improving.

Pie chart shows Only 22% of U.S. adults say the cost of college is worth it even if someone has to take out loans

After decades of falling wages, young U.S. workers (ages 25 to 34) without a bachelor’s degree have seen their earnings increase over the past 10 years. Their overall wealth has gone up too, and fewer are living in poverty today.

Things have also improved for young college graduates over this period. As a result, the gap in earnings between young adults with and without a college degree has not narrowed.

The public has mixed views on the importance of having a college degree, and many have doubts about whether the cost is worth it, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Only one-in-four U.S. adults say it’s extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paying job in today’s economy. About a third (35%) say a college degree is somewhat important, while 40% say it’s not too or not at all important.
Roughly half (49%) say it’s less important to have a four-year college degree today in order to get a well-paying job than it was 20 years ago; 32% say it’s more important, and 17% say it’s about as important as it was 20 years ago.
Only 22% say the cost of getting a four-year college degree today is worth it even if someone has to take out loans. Some 47% say the cost is worth it only if someone doesn’t have to take out loans. And 29% say the cost is not worth it.

These findings come amid rising tuition costs and mounting student debt . Views on the cost of college differ by Americans’ level of education. But even among four-year college graduates, only about a third (32%) say college is worth the cost even if someone has to take out loans – though they are more likely than those without a degree to say this.

Four-year college graduates (58%) are much more likely than those without a college degree (26%) to say their education was extremely or very useful in giving them the skills and knowledge they needed to get a well-paying job. (This finding excludes the 9% of respondents who said this question did not apply to them.)

Chart shows 4 in 10 Americans say a college degree is not too or not at all important in order to get a well-paying job

Views on the importance of college differ widely by partisanship. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say:

It’s not too or not at all important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paying job (50% of Republicans vs. 30% of Democrats)
A college degree is less important now than it was 20 years ago (57% vs. 43%)
It’s extremely or very likely someone without a four-year college degree can get a well-paying job (42% vs. 26%)

At the same time that the public is expressing doubts about the value of college, a new Center analysis of government data finds young adults without a college degree are doing better on some key measures than they have in recent years.

A narrow majority of workers ages 25 to 34 do not have a four-year college degree (54% in 2023). Earnings for these young workers mostly trended downward from the mid-1970s until roughly a decade ago.

Outcomes have been especially poor for young men without a college degree. Other research has shown that this group saw falling labor force participation and sagging earnings starting in the early 1970s , but the last decade has marked a turning point.

This analysis looks at young men and young women separately because of their different experiences in the labor force.

Trends for young men

Labor force participation: The share of young men without a college degree who were working or looking for work dropped steadily from 1970 until about 2014. Our new analysis suggests things have stabilized somewhat for this group over the past decade. Meanwhile, labor force participation among young men with a four-year degree has remained mostly flat.
Full-time, full-year employment: The share of employed young men without a college degree who are working full time and year-round has varied somewhat over the years – trending downward during recessions. It’s risen significantly since the Great Recession of 2007-09, with the exception of a sharp dip in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For employed young men with a college degree, the share working full time, full year has remained more stable over the years.

Chart shows Earnings of young men without a college degree have increased over the past 10 years

Median annual earnings: Since 2014, earnings have risen for young men with some college education and for those whose highest attainment is a high school diploma. Even so, earnings for these groups remain below where they were in the early 1970s. Earnings for young men with a bachelor’s degree have also trended up, for the most part, over the past 10 years.
Poverty: Among young men without a college degree who are living independently from their parents, the share in poverty has fallen significantly over the last decade. For example, 12% of young men with a high school diploma were living in poverty in 2023, down from a peak of 17% in 2011. The share of young men with a four-year college degree who are in poverty has also fallen and remains below that of noncollege young men.

Trends for young women

Labor force participation: The shares of young women with and without a college degree in the labor force grew steadily from 1970 to about 1990. Among those without a college degree, the share fell after 2000, and the drop-off was especially sharp for young women with a high school diploma. Since 2014, labor force participation for both groups of young women has increased.
Full-time, full-year employment: The shares of employed young women working full time and year-round, regardless of their educational attainment, have steadily increased over the decades. There was a decline during and after the Great Recession and again (briefly) in 2021 due to the pandemic. Today, the shares of women working full time, full year are the highest they’ve ever been across education levels.

Chart shows Earnings of young women without a college degree have trended up in the past decade

Median annual earnings: Median earnings for young women without a college degree were relatively flat from 1970 until about a decade ago. These women did not experience the steady decline in earnings that noncollege young men did over this period. By contrast, earnings have grown over the decades for young women with a college degree. In the past 10 years, earnings for women both with and without a college degree have risen.
Poverty: As is the case for young men without a college degree, the share of noncollege young women living in poverty has fallen substantially over the past decade. In 2014, 31% of women with a high school diploma who lived independently from their parents were in poverty. By 2023, that share had fallen to 21%. Young women with a college degree remain much less likely to be in poverty than their counterparts with less education.

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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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What we know and what we don't about a historic settlement to pay college athletes

Becky Sullivan

The NCAA and its Power 5 conferences agreed this week to a legal settlement that could allow for schools to pay athletes directly. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images hide caption

A sea change is coming to college athletics.

On Thursday, the NCAA and the so-called "power five" athletic conferences reached a groundbreaking agreement that seeks to end the century-old tradition of amateurism in college sports by allowing athletes to receive pay directly from the colleges and universities they play for.

The agreement, part of a class-action lawsuit known as House v. NCAA , must be approved by a federal judge overseeing the case, a decision that could be months away.

NCAA and college conferences OK $2.8 billion settlement over antitrust claims

The proposed settlement has two parts. First, it would distribute some $2.75 billion to athletes who competed before July 2021, when the NCAA first allowed athletes to earn money from their name, image and likeness rights. Second, it would create a future revenue-sharing model in which schools could each distribute around $20 million per year directly to athletes.

But far from closing the door on the years of debates and litigation over the question of payments to student athletes, the proposed settlement raises a slate of even more questions: Which athletes will be compensated? How much will they make? Will women be paid equally to men? Will schools that are unable to pay athletes be able to keep up with bigger, richer schools?

"Those are going to be very important details we're going to have to work out," said Matt Mitten, a professor of sports law at Marquette University. "The settlement is just the start."

Here's what we know and what big issues remain unresolved.

What would the proposed settlement cover?

In short, the future-looking part of the proposed agreement creates a system in which schools that are part of Power 5 conferences — the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pac-12 and the Southeastern Conference, all of which voted to approve the proposed settlement — can pay athletes.

Each school will be allowed to distribute up to around $20 million to its athletes, an amount based on a percentage of the average revenue earned annually by the power conference programs. That percentage begins at 22 percent and could go up over time. It's expected that other schools, those outside the Power 5 conferences, will be able to opt in.

College football is back and players still aren't getting paid

"This landmark settlement will bring college sports into the 21st century, with college athletes finally able to receive a fair share of the billions of dollars of revenue that they generate for their schools," plaintiffs' attorney Steve Berman said in a statement.

Will all college athletes get paid?

No. Football players and men's basketball players at large programs are the most likely to receive payments. That's because most of the revenue earned by college athletics departments has historically come from TV contracts to broadcast those two sports. Women's basketball also earns some revenue, and those players too could receive payments.

"It's going to be up to each school to decide how they're going to distribute that $20 million. And that's going to probably vary a lot from school to school," said Mit Winter, an attorney who has represented conferences, schools and athletes in a variety of college sports legal issues.

A New Era Dawns In College Sports, As The NCAA Scrambles To Keep Up

Schools will also have the option to pay players in sports that generally don't generate revenue — like rowing, soccer, tennis, track and field and more — but it's unclear how institutions will choose to proceed.

And many schools that aren't part of the major conferences may choose not to pay anything to any players at all, which could eventually open a competitive gulf between the haves and the have nots.

As an example, Mitten pointed to his employer, Marquette, whose men's basketball teams have reached three Final Fours despite the school's lack of a football team and accompanying revenue that could more easily fund payments to players.

March Madness is an NCAA gold mine. This year, players can finally cash in too

"How do we maintain the parity and competitive balance among the 350-plus Division 1 basketball schools when not all of them play football and are getting, individually, millions and millions of dollars from these big TV contracts?" he said.

Will women be paid equally with men?

The proposed settlement marks a new frontier for Title IX, the cornerstone civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at educational institutions that receive funding from the federal government.

Title IX's legacy in college sports has been massive, as schools are required to pay out scholarships in equal proportion to women as they do for men.

Women's NCAA championship TV ratings crush the men's competition

Now, schools will have to determine whether and how the law applies to revenue payments to athletes. It will likely be up to litigation to resolve the question, he said.

"There's really no set final answer on how Title IX is going to apply," said Winter. "I think some schools will assume that Title IX is going to make them give 50 percent of that $20 million to female athletes and 50 percent to male athletes. Other schools won't make that assumption."

Are the NCAA's antitrust woes over?

As much as the NCAA may hope this settlement puts the years of antitrust lawsuits behind them, on this one, experts agree: The answer is no.

Of particular concern is the cap that the settlement places on payout, which is set for now at 22 percent of the average revenue earned annually by Power 5 schools. That figure is much lower than the portion of revenue paid out in professional sports like the NFL and NBA, where players take home about half of revenue.

Dartmouth men's basketball team votes to unionize, shaking up college sports

In those leagues, players have agreed to receive that share of the revenue by way of collective bargaining agreements. Those labor agreements provide legal protection from individual lawsuits over compensation, said Mitten. But in college sports, where athletes aren't considered employees, no such bargaining agreements exist — meaning the NCAA is still exposed to antitrust litigation.

The NCAA and schools are already lobbying Congress to pass a federal antitrust exemption for college sports that would protect them from future lawsuits over pay.

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Is college worth it? Here’s what this national study says

As economic outcomes have improved for young americans with and without college degrees in the past decade, pew research center finds perceived value of college is a mixed bag.

By Marjorie Cortez

Just 1 in 4 American adults say it’s extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree to get a well-paying job in today’s economy.

Nearly one-third of U.S. adults say the cost of college is not worth it if someone has to take out loans.

These were just two of the findings of a Pew Research Center study that queried more than 5,200 U.S. adults on their views of the value of a college degree. The survey had a 2.1% margin of error.

The online survey, conducted Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, 2023, revealed stark differences in perceptions depending upon political affiliation.

According to survey results made public on Thursday, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say it’s not too or not at all important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paying job, which was the perception of half of the Republican and 30% of Democrats who responded to the survey.

The survey also found that it is “extremely or very likely” that someone without a four-year college degree can get a well-paying job. Forty-two percent of Republican and Republican-leaning independents agreed with that perception, as did 26% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.

Geoffrey Landward, Utah’s new Commissioner of Higher Education, during his recent confirmation hearing before a committee of the Utah Senate, extolled the “demonstrated benefits” of higher education.

“I believe that at no other time in higher education’s history have we faced such an existential crisis that higher education, long viewed as a pillar of American society and exceptionalism, is now viewed with distrust and it’s value doubted, all contrary to objective data,” Landward said.

“There isn’t a single person in this state who would not benefit from earning a certificate or degree from one of our institutions. Completion of a post-secondary credential is as valuable as ever. Postsecondary education remains strongly correlated with increased job security, lifetime earnings, civic engagement and personal health and happiness,” he said.

Rising earnings over the past decade — for those with and without college degrees — is another factor that has influenced perceptions of the value of a college degree, according to the report.

“After decades of falling wages, young U.S. workers (ages 25 to 34) without a bachelor’s degree have seen their earnings increase over the past 10 years. Their overall wealth has gone up too, and fewer are living in poverty today,” the report states.

Over the same period, economic outcomes have also improved for young college graduates.

“As a result, the gap in earnings between young adults with and without a college degree has not narrowed,” according to the study.

Survey responses also varied with respect to education attainment.

Thirty percent of college graduates said having a college degree is extremely or very important, compared to 22% of respondents with less education.

The percentage was even higher among postgraduates, with 35% responding that it is extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paying job, and 39% saying it’s more important to have a college degree today than it was 20 years ago.

Darin Brush, president of Davis Technical College, said the nation’s strong and stable economy may also play into perceptions about higher education.

“Most of our students have not lived through a period where they had to really compete for work. They only know plentiful job opportunities and that changes as we know. Resilience, in so many ways, depends on your credentials and your skills. Finishing that credential and certificate, finishing that degree we know also leads to greater resilience in the economy and longer and better attachment,” he said.

The college strongly encourages students who earn certificates and credentials to further their education at Weber State University. A student who trains to become a licensed electrician can earn a handsome living but also obtaining an associate degree would give them the skills they need to start their own successful business, Brush said.

Brush said he is a firm believer in higher education because he knows how earning undergraduate and graduate degrees opened doors in his career.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have that. I wouldn’t be in a position to do the work I’m doing if I hadn’t learned about the world and learned some things that you can only get, I fundamentally believe, you can only get through pursuit of a degree,” he said.

Watch CBS News

NCAA athlete-pay settlement could mean 6-figure paychecks for top college players

By Khristopher J. Brooks

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: May 24, 2024 / 6:45 PM EDT / CBS News

Thousands of student athletes — both past and present — are in line to receive their share of a $2.8 billion settlement resolving an antitrust lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the nation's five biggest conferences. The challenge now will be deciding how much each player gets and why.

The complaint, filed in Northern California in 2020 by former Arizona State swimmer Grant House and Sedona Prince, a former Oregon and current Texas Christian University basketball player, accused the NCAA, along with the five wealthiest conferences, of improperly barring athletes from earning endorsement money based on their name, image and likenesses, or NILs.

The finer details still need to be ironed out, but the NCAA's agreement calls for the league and conferences to pay $2.77 billion over 10 years to more than 14,000 former and current college athletes who claim that the now-defunct compensation rules prevented them from earning money from endorsement and sponsorship deals dating back to 2016.

The deal must still be approved by the federal judge overseeing the case and challenges could arise. But if the agreement stands, it will mark the beginning of a new era in college sports where players are compensated more like professionals and schools can compete for talent using direct payments.

The NCAA can go one of two ways: either pass a portion of the funds to colleges across the nation and have someone on campus determine the size of the payouts, or hire an outside entity charged with carrying out the logistics, said Tim Derdenger, who teaches sports marketing professor Carnegie Mellon University. In the latter case, the NCAA will have to decide whether all the athletes should receive the same amount of money or if some will get more than others because of how well they played, experts said.

"If the funds go to the university, I can see just every player getting one lump sum," Derdenger said. "Is that merit-based or market-based? Absolutely not. But I'm an economist so I would allocate these funds based upon their success during competition."

The NCAA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

If individual payout amounts are determined by other measurements, college basketball and football players will most likely get the lion's share of the settlement, experts told CBS MoneyWatch. That's because basketball and football games tend to generate the most revenue for a university's athletic department. And that scenario, star quarterbacks or starting point guards would see the biggest payday, Derdenger said.

"I can definitely see someone like Caleb Williams getting a $100,000 check, if not more," he said, referring to the University of Southern California quarterback who was recently drafted to the NFL.

Members of a school's golf, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer and volleyball teams will get payments too, but they likely will not be in the six figures because those sports don't generate revenue, Derdenger said.

The NCAA should take a page out of European soccer's book and adopt a payment formula that combines players getting an equal share with rewarding those who play the most popular sports, said Patrick Rishe, a sports business professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

"For example, the English Premiere League allocates 50% of its national media revenue to all teams evenly, but then 25% is allocated based on team performance and 25% is allocated based on popularity," he said. "Perhaps a hybrid model based on a combination of equity, performance and popularity is the proper route."

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. He previously worked as a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald, Newsday and the Florida Times-Union. His reporting primarily focuses on the U.S. housing market, the business of sports and bankruptcy.

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NCAA signs off on deal that would change landscape of college sports — paying student-athletes

A major change could be coming for college athletes — they may soon start getting paid.

A tentative agreement announced Thursday by the NCAA and the country’s five biggest conferences to a series of antitrust lawsuits could direct millions of dollars directly to athletes as soon as fall 2025.

The nearly $2.8 billion settlement, which would be paid out over the next decade to 14,000 former and current student-athletes, “is an important step in the continuing reform of college sports that will provide benefits to student-athletes and provide clarity in college athletics across all divisions for years to come,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a joint statement Thursday night with the commissioners of the ACC, the Big 10, the Big 12, the Pac-12 and the SEC.

The federal judge overseeing the case must still sign off on the agreement, but if it is approved, it would signal a major shift in college sports in which students would play for compensation, not just scholarships, exposure and opportunities.

“This landmark settlement will bring college sports into the 21st century, with college athletes finally able to receive a fair share of the billions of dollars of revenue that they generate for their schools,” said Steve Berman, one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs. “Our clients are the bedrock of the NCAA’s multibillion-dollar business and finally can be compensated in an equitable and just manner for their extraordinary athletic talents.”

The NCAA and power conferences called the settlement a “road map” that would allow the uniquely American institution to provide unmatched opportunity for millions of students and write the “next chapter of college sports.”

The case, which was set to go to trial early next year, was brought by a former and a current college athlete who said the NCAA and the five wealthiest conferences improperly barred athletes from earning endorsement money. Former Arizona State swimmer Grant House and Sedona Prince, a former Oregon and current TCU basketball player, also contended in their suit that athletes were entitled to a piece of the billions of dollars the NCAA and those conferences earn from media rights agreements with television networks.

Michael McCann, a legal analyst and sports reporter at Sportico , told NBC News in an interview on Top Story with Tom Llamas the case has two components that “move away from amateurism” — one that deals with how players are paid for the past loss of earnings, including money they could have made for name, image and likeness.

“The going forward part is that colleges can opt in, conferences can opt in, as well, to pay players, to share revenue with them, to have direct pay, and that would be of course a radical from the traditions of college sports,” McCann said, adding many would say that change is warranted. “Now the athletes, at least at some schools, will get a direct stake.”

2024 CFP National Championship - Michigan v Washington NCAA college athletes

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though some details have emerged in the past few weeks. They signal the end of the NCAA’s bedrock amateurism model that dates to its founding in 1906. Indeed, the days of NCAA punishment for athletes driving booster-provided cars started vanishing three years ago when the organization lifted restrictions on endorsement deals backed by so-called name, image and likeness, or NIL, money.

Now it is not far-fetched to look ahead to seasons when a star quarterback or a top prospect on a college basketball team not only is cashing in big-money NIL deals but also has a $100,000 school payment in the bank to play.

A host of details are still to be determined . The agreement calls for the NCAA and the conferences to pay $2.77 billion over 10 years to more than 14,000 former and current college athletes who say now-defunct rules prevented them from earning money from endorsement and sponsorship deals dating to 2016.

Some of the money would come from NCAA reserve funds and insurance, but even though the lawsuit specifically targeted five conferences that comprise 69 schools (including Notre Dame), dozens of other NCAA member schools would get smaller distributions from the NCAA to cover the mammoth payout.

Schools in the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences would end up bearing the brunt of the settlement at a cost of about $300 million apiece over 10 years, the majority of which would be paid to athletes going forward.

The Pac-12 is also part of the settlement, with all 12 current schools sharing responsibility even though Washington State and Oregon State will be the only league members left by this fall after the 10 other schools leave.

Paying athletes

In the new compensation model, each school would be permitted but not required to set aside up to $21 million in revenue to share with athletes per year, though as revenues rose, so could the cap.

Athletes in all sports would be eligible for payments, and schools would be given the freedom to decide how the money is divvied up among sports programs. Roster restrictions would replace scholarship limits by sport.

McCann said the back pay would disproportionately go to some sports — such as football and basketball.

“The schools that I think that are certainly big football schools will probably opt in because they’re going to want to compete, they’re going to want to get the best players, because college football generates a lot of revenue,” he said.

Whether the new compensation model is subject to the Title IX gender equity law is unknown, along with whether schools would be able to bring NIL activities in-house as they hope and squeeze out the booster-run collectives that have sprouted up in the last few years to pay athletes. Both topics could lead to more lawsuits.

“There are all sorts of areas of turbulence that could present themselves,” McCann said of roadblocks that could arise.

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Other cases

The settlement is expected to cover two other antitrust cases facing the NCAA and major conferences that challenge athlete compensation rules. Hubbard v. the NCAA and Carter v. the NCAA are also in front of judges in the Northern District of California.

A fourth case, Fontenot v. NCAA, creates a potential complication, as it remains in a Colorado court after a judge denied a request to combine it with Carter. Whether Fontenot becomes part of the settlement is unknown, and it matters because the NCAA and its conferences don’t want to be on the hook for more damages should they lose in court.

“We’re going to continue to litigate our case in Colorado and look forward to hearing about the terms of a settlement proposal once they’re actually released and put in front of a court,” said George Zelcs, a plaintiffs’ attorney in Fontenot.

Headed in that direction

The solution agreed to in the settlement is a landmark but not surprising. College sports have been trending in this direction for years, with athletes receiving more and more monetary benefits and rights they say were long overdue.

In December, Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts who has been on the job for 14 months, proposed creating a new tier of Division I athletics in which the schools with the most resources would be required to pay at least half their athletes $30,000 per year. That suggestion, along with many other possibilities, remains under discussion.

The settlement would not make every issue facing college sports go away. There is still a question of whether athletes should be deemed employees of their schools, which Baker and other college sports leaders are fighting.

Some type of federal legislation or antitrust exemption would most likely still be needed to codify the terms of the settlement, protect the NCAA from future litigation and pre-empt state laws that attempt to neuter the organization’s authority. As it is, the NCAA still faces lawsuits that challenge its ability to govern itself, including setting rules limiting multiple-time transfers.

“This settlement is also a road map for college sports leaders and Congress to ensure this uniquely American institution can continue to provide unmatched opportunity for millions of students,” the joint statement said. “All of Division I made today’s progress possible, and we all have work to do to implement the terms of the agreement as the legal process continues. We look forward to working with our various student-athlete leadership groups to write the next chapter of college sports.”

Federal lawmakers have indicated they would like to get something done, but while several bills have been introduced , none have gone anywhere.

Despite the unanswered questions, one thing is clear: Major college athletics is about to become more like professional sports than ever before.

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