Understanding the Student-Faculty Ratio

October 26th, 2009

If you are in the midst of a college search, you’ve probably got about a half million facts and figures running through your head. Some people might be founts of information when it comes to sports stats, but you instead are able to recite on command a host of enrollment figures, average SAT scores, and admission rates.

One figure that you might have come across in your careful research is the student-faculty ratio. A very important figure on any campus and a source of pride for many colleges and universities, the student-faculty ratio is a good indicator of what your academic life will be life at the school of your choice—that is, if you know how to look at it correctly.

The student-faculty ratio should not be confused with class size, but unfortunately, many students do just that. Rather, a student-faculty ratio is an equation of how many students are on campus in relation to how many faculty members there are at a given time. For example, if a college says that they have a 12-1 student-faculty ratio, this means that for every 12 students on campus, there is currently one faculty member. However, this does NOT mean that all of your classes will have 12 students in them. Large universities that boast low student-faculty ratios are particularly confusing, since chances are good that you will walk into a lecture hall for an intro class and be greeted by a hundred other students.

There’s no doubt that a low student-faculty ratio is desirable. A low ratio means that a college or university is working diligently to ensure that there is enough faculty on hand to teach both required courses and higher-level electives in their programs and that class size, particularly as you get further into your major, is kept at a minimum.

But again, the ratio can be misleading. Colleges often count part-time adjuncts into the mix, and at many colleges, adjuncts comprise a large number—if not the majority–of the faculty. This is nothing against part-time faculty, of course, but when you research a college, it’s important to remember to consider how many tenured faculty are on campus. Since adjuncts are often paid meager salaries and are not eligible for tenure, colleges look to them to fill in the gaps for low-level classes, leaving the published and more experienced profs to teach the upper-level curriculum.

However misleading, the student-faculty ratio is still the best figure for quantifying academic life, as average class size can be even more confusing. After all, it is possible to be one of 200 in a lecture hall and then one of only 10 in an advanced seminar; between these two numbers, the average class size is 105, which is not true!

While schools large and small like to flaunt their low student-faculty ratios, beware of the schools that don’t make this info readily available—it could mean a high ratio.  While a high student-faculty ratio isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, it is something that should weigh in on your decision, since this could mean a shortage of classes each semester or, worst-case scenario, a possible termination of smaller, less popular academic programs.

Learning about a school’s facts and figures are a great way to get a snapshot of what campus life is like, but—and we know you’ve heard this before—there’s nothing better than seeing it for yourself. When you call to schedule a campus visit, ask about sitting in on a freshmen class to see what it’s like for yourself before you make your final college decision.

–Barbara Bellesi

Entry Filed under: Advice, General