Welcome to the Citadel Prospective Parent Page!
Let me start by congratulating you on having a child express an interest in attending The Citadel. As you know, this is a place that provides an experience much different than most of what their high school peers will consider. We like to call it “the road less traveled.” It is a path that is mentally and physically challenging, but also one filled with opportunities that provides the skills they will need to excel in the career field they choose to pursue. The fact that they are considering The Citadel is a reflection of the wonderful job you did raising them, so “Well Done!”
Watching your child figure out where they believe they will flourish in college can be exciting and nerve-racking for parents and families. But once they have made their choice, most will come to you to validate their decision. Our goal is to help you feel comfortable saying “yes” when they come looking for your approval of their decision to attend The Citadel.
Our website is a great place to find information on The Citadel. To get the most out of it, we recommend clicking on the “Search” tool in the upper right-hand corner and typing in a short description of the information you are looking for. A great place to start is the main site for cadet admissions – https://www.citadel.edu/corps/ – look on the left-hand side of the page for the links to the pages with information that can answer just about every question you may have.
So why say “yes” to The Citadel? Many people will have different reasons, but for parents, we would suggest considering the following:
First, we have excellent academic programs. We are organized into the following five schools. We recommend taking a closer look at the school that houses the area your child plans to pursue:
Tommy & Victoria Baker School of Business
- Accounting & Finance
- Management & Entrepreneurship
- Marketing, Supply Chain Management & Economics
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Engineering Leadership & Program Management
- Mechanical Engineering
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Criminal Justice
- English, Fine Arts, and Communications
- History
- Intelligence & Security Studies
- Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures
- Political Science
- Psychology
Swain Family School of Science and Mathematics
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Cyber and Computer Sciences
- Health and Human Performance
- Mathematical Sciences
- Physics
- Swain Department of Nursing
Zucker Family School of Education
Second, we live in a structured environment that is designed to produce principled leaders. Our Honor Code and Core Values of Honor, Duty and Respect are part of our daily lives. The experience is completely different than what their friends will experience at other schools, but the transformation you will see in your child each year will be remarkable.
Third, we care about your child’s success. Within their company, your child will find formal and informal academic support structure. Our teacher to student ratios are low (11:1) which provides an environment for cadets and their professors to develop strong relationships. We have an award winning Student Success Center that provides tutoring, paper writing support and life skills coaching. Like you, we want this to be a four-year experience (as opposed to and 5 or 6-year effort) with a job in the field of their choice or selection into a follow-on education program. While here they will have access to one of the finest Career Centers in higher education that supports them each year with resume building, internships and experiential learning opportunities. Additionally, the Center is a great way to tap into the powerful network of Citadel Alumni. If your child will let them know what they want to do for a career, they will help them achieve their dreams!
Fourth, Return on Investment (ROI). It costs a great deal to send a child to college, so you want to make sure you are getting a good return on that investment. There are several websites that discuss and try to show ROI for a college degree. I am hesitant to say we have the strongest “financial” ROI because a new study may come out tomorrow looking at different set of variables. I will say that our starting salaries are consistently very competitive if not in the highest of those in our category. And finally, don’t disregard the resilience, confidence and strong network of friends your child will develop at The Citadel. They are truly priceless.
One of the areas you should visit is our Financial Aid website. Our staff has provided a number of links to help you make the financial decision. If you have any questions, please feel free to call them. At a minimum, make sure you fill out your FASFA which we will use to determine various levels of Financial Aid.
I hope this page gets you started learning about The Citadel. Although the website has a lot of information, the best way to make the decision about The Citadel is to visit and have your child spend the night in the barracks – what we call a “Pre-Knob” visit. We also have a three-week summer program called “The Citadel Success Institute” (CSI) which is designed to give those incoming students a “leg- up” and those still unsure one last look.
We do wish you the best of luck in finding the higher education institution where your child will flourish. If they are still interested in The Citadel we strongly recommend joining our Parent Portal as a member of the “Class of 2027 Prospective Parent” community where we publish articles that can help you with your decision. Also, our Family Association manages a Facebook page for Prospective Parents of the Incoming Class (now Class of 2027) who are looking to get a “parent’s” point of view of the College as well as answer any questions you may have.
If we can help provide more information please don’t hesitate to call or email us at:
Admissions: (843) 953-5230 / admissions@citadel.edu
Financial Aid: (843) 953-5187 / financial_aid@citadel.edu
Parent Programs: (843) 953-6088 / parents@citadel.edu
And don’t forget, we have been ranked Newsweek’s #1 Public College in the South for the past 12 years!
Best wishes!
Taylor Skardon ‘82
Captain USN (Ret)
Office of Parent Programs
parents@citadel.edu