Each year over a million newly-minted high school graduates enroll in four-year colleges and universities across the country. They do so often after a lengthy and almost always stressful selection process. Faced with growing evidence of declining standards, rising political correctness and spiraling costs, families feel more powerless than ever before - and question whether a college degree is really the key to the American dream. What is a parent to do? This book provides an answer. Higher education expert Anne Neal offers families a concise guide to finding the right college. Rejecting the notion that reputation is everything, this guide offers insightful chapters on curricula and teaching, campus and dorm life, freedom of thought and speech, and affordability - issues that are more and more in the news. Families are given a handy checklist of questions designed to help them zero in on key issues of quality and cost to ensure a college program that will provide the skills and knowledge needed for success after graduation.