By ADmin 
Where a student chooses to go to college will affect their life in countless ways.
A lot goes into these decisions. One major consideration: Students often want to know what their life would be like at a given school. To help answer this big question, The Hechinger Report developed a tool that tracks various factors that could contribute to whether a student feels welcome on a college campus.
Our College Welcome Guide, first published last fall, provides answers to questions college applicants might have as they consider their options this year. Recently, we updated all of the data powering this tool to ensure college applicants get the most accurate responses to their questions. You can find updated answers for more than 4,300 colleges and universities. We also published a quick video explainer on how to use the guide.
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If you or someone you know are applying to college, here are some questions you may have that the College Welcome Guide can answer.
How diverse are the colleges I’m interested in?
Using data from the U.S. Department of Education, we list the demographics of each college’s student enrollment and faculty. We also provide colleges’ graduation rates broken down by racial and ethnic groups and what proportion of students receive Pell grants, which are awarded to students from low-income families.
In addition, the guide includes data on the gender breakdown on campus. And, in some cases, we are able to say what proportion of students are over the age of 25. Our guide also identifies which schools have LGBTQ+ resource centers and services for students with disabilities.
What are the free speech policies at the schools I’m considering?
The guide features a tool that evaluates policies protecting free speech on every campus. It grades campuses from “exceptional” to “abysmal” depending on a college’s score in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s College Free Speech Rankings, which is based on a survey of undergraduates.
I’m a veteran. Which schools provide resources for me?
Our guide measures the services that various colleges provide to veterans, including whether or not there is a publicly listed point of contact for support services and how many students are receiving post-9/11 benefits or Department of Defense tuition assistance.
The guide can be used to research which states provide in-state tuition for veterans, with or without conditions, including if applicants are using GI Bill benefits.
I’m considering applying to an out-of-state college. Will state laws be different and how will that affect my experience?
We provide maps that outline state laws that would be relevant to college students. Those include policies restricting diversity initiatives or the teaching of Critical Race Theory and laws permitting voting using student IDs. These maps also show which states provide in-state tuition or financial aid to undocumented students, restrict access to abortion and have passed anti-transgender legislation.
If you know someone who could use our College Welcome Guide, please send it to them. And if you have questions about the guide, send us an email at editor@hechingerreport.org.
Contact staff writer Olivia Sanchez at osanchez@hechingerreport.org. Contact Noble Ingram at ingram@hechingerreport.org.
This story about college life was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Higher Education newsletter.
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