Blair Seymour toured the Meredith College campus at her parents' suggestion. She planned to attend a large state university like many of her friends at Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, N.C.

Meredith's tree-shaded, 225-acre campus in west Raleigh impressed Blair, said her father, Glenn Seymour. After she met with an admissions counselor, Blair decided to attend Meredith, where she is now a sophomore.

"Within two to three hours, Blair looked at me and she said, 'Dad, this is where I'm going to school.' It was that compelling. Meredith fit her," Seymour said.

Blair found a mentor in Dr. Patsy Pierce, coordinator of the birth-kindergarten licensure program at Meredith. Last year, she began volunteering with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Eastern North Carolina and has decided to major in childhood development.

"It's just the natural culmination of her interest in children,"Seymour said.

As a scientific researcher, Seymour has been impressed with the laboratories and equipment in the Science and Mathematics Building, which opened in January 2003. Seymour, marketing director at Sicel Technolgies, Inc., is on a first-name basis with Meredith biology professor John Mecham. They worked together on a grant committee that contributed to a successful fundraising proposal for scientific equipment. Sicel Technologies, in Morrisville, N.C., has developed implantable wireless sensors that enable oncologists to analyze individual patients' responses to chemotherapy.

Seymour respects the academic climate at Meredith because faculty members emphasize critical thinking skills, undergraduate research, and hands-on experience through internships.

"People don't realize how strong the academic credentials are at Meredith," he said. "They don't realize how strong the sciences are there."

Seymour, chair of the Meredith Parent and Family Board, encourages parents to participate in their daughters' educational experience as consultants. Parents should use their career and community connections to develop internships and job shadowing programs for their daughters and other Meredith students.

"Parents' responsibilities go beyond writing a check for tuition," he said. "We must help students find direction, professional contacts and work-related opportunities."

Seymour knows, though, that paying for tuition at Meredith is a big responsibility for many parents. The tuition, room and board at Meredith, one of the largest private women's colleges in the United States, is higher than similar costs at state-supported universities. Seymour advises parents to work closely with the College Office of Financial Aid, which coordinated $21 million in financial assistance for 1,954 students in 2002-03.

"I don't really think a value can be placed on education," he said. "There are so many things you get from the educational experience at Meredith that really cannot be compared to other schools."

Seymour especially appreciates the strong friendships his daughter has developed with the women in her class and the instant rapport she has with Meredith alumnae.

"There's something about smaller women's colleges and the strength of their alumnae group. There's a bond they have with each other," he said.