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Since I run a test prep company, I constantly bombarded with questions from parents, friends, colleagues and clients. One of the most interesting questions I get is whether the community college is a good choice for students. Like most things in life, the answer is not so simple. Let’s take a look at five things to consider when deciding whether to go to Community College.
Cost
One of the best reasons to go to Community College is cost. Even if we only look at public schools, teaching at UC schools is over $ 13,000 a year, and Cal State schools, it is over $ 5,000 a year. At community colleges, it is only about $ 1,000 a year. This is obviously a very big difference for students who come from lower income families. When you take into account the high interest student loans, the difference will be even more extreme. If a student were to go to UC schools first two years of college, when interest and fees on the loan, they would spend an additional $ 33,143 compared to if they went to Community College. If a student went to Cal State, they would spend about $ 13.809 more. These are not the amounts of ridicule.
Convenience
Another important factor to consider is comfort. There are 112 community colleges in California against only 23 Cal State and UC 10 schools. The great Vocational school community makes many students to save on maintenance, we do not move out of his parents’ home. Further, many 17 or 18 year-old high school graduates do not even feel comfortable going home and would like to have a smoother transition from high school to college. Allow students to stay home, save money, and get used to the transition can make a big difference.
The College Experience
A lot of parents and students to discuss college not simply from a theoretical point of view, but also from “experience” perspective. Living in the dorms, to be part of the Greek System, enjoy major sports on campus, and so on are all important aspects of the experience. Unfortunately, most community colleges, this simply does not exist. A community college is much closer to high school than it is to traditional universities in terms of the social make-up.
Graduate
With the downturn in the economy was the major cuts to all public colleges. Unfortunately, a lot of money has never come back. Practically speaking, that means that many students have a difficult time getting classes they need. This can sometimes lead to extended graduation dates. But students used to counting on finishing Community College within two years, nowadays they often need to be in three years. Although the problems are at the university as well, it is less significant at Cal States and even less at UC schools. Plus, where students are already in the university environment, they can take a minor or second major as they wait for the classes they need.
Performance
The next factor for consideration is one that is often misunderstood. To use a popular example, many people find it difficult to gain admission to school like UCLA directly from high school. The acceptance rate hovers at only about 20%! Over the years, have somehow many families come under the impression that a way around this problem is simply to go to a community college and transfer. However, there are two major issues with this. First, the acceptance rate for transmission is only 26% – still a low number. Second, you own a university in November, the second year of your Community College. It means that you are applying for when you only have two semesters of work completed. Most students take three or four courses a semester, which means they should have taken only seven or eight classes. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on students to perform at a high level. What if one of those groups is particularly difficult, and you get a D? With only six other categories of your backups, you very well may have destroyed himself from contention if you hope to move to a top school.
Major
Finally, it is a case of a major. About 80% of students change their major at least once in college and on average, they change a lot three times! As we discussed above, students will transfer at the beginning of the second year of college when they only take seven or eight courses. Oftentimes, students still do not feel confident that they know what they want to learn. Unfortunately, unlike when applying as a freshman, students are forced to make a long term commitment to a particularly serious when applying for the transfer. Most major (and basically all standard and popular ones) are considered “effect.” That means that if a student is enrolled in school after moving, they can not change any of these majors. So if you choose Sociology as major phone in November, the second year and third year, you decide that you really want to learn accounting, you simply can not change majors. You would need to complete a degree in sociology and then go back and take more courses in accounting after graduation. This is a big problem for many students.
As you can see, the question of whether the student should go to Community College is not so simple. There are many factors to consider and everyone should see it as a very personal decision.
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