How Safe Is Your College ? Know Before You Go!

June is when High School Seniors are graduating and Juniors and Sophomores are considering what colleges to attend. Students choose colleges base on their size, location, or their ranking.

Why isn't a school's safety record ever a consideration ?

 All colleges these days boast of their terrific "blue light" safety system.  This is a system of call stations posted around the campus where you can push a button to alert the school's security patrol.  But what are the actual crime statistics for a particular college?

I would advise all high school students and their parents to visit the following website.

http://ope.ed.gov/security/Index.aspx

On the right side column, click on "get data for one institution/campus."
Under "Institution City" type in the town your school is located and hit "search."
Click on the college you are considering and you will see the crime statistics for 2008 -2010.
Sexual Offenses (forcible and non-forcible), robbery, assault, burglary, and arson.statistics are listed.
You'll also have the name and phone number of the Director of Public Safety for the College.
Parents and students should all put this phone number into your phones contact list.

Having information and statistics is power.