Two of our daughters will be on their way to college in the next couple of years. One is a Jr and the other a So in high school. Both are very bright; one will probably end up in a math or science major, the other is likely to head in another direction… maybe teaching.
My wife and I both are CPAs and we each started at community colleges for one year before moving on to a four year school. That was almost 30 years ago.
My question … since it worked for us is there any reason to think that that is not a good option now? Have admissions or other circumstances changed such that you really need to try to decide where you want to go from the start?
How about starting at a local four year school (rather than a CC) with the possibility of transferring after a year or two? Is that any different?
Ugh. College preparations. I just finished the first leg of this (getting accepted) myself, and have now begun the second bit (scholarships). Here’s my thoughts on the matter:
If your kids are bright (I’m assuming a 3.5 GPA or better) then a CC is probably not the place for them. A state school would be a much better choice, although you should talk to them and find out if they want to stay in town- most high school graduates feel some drive to get out of their hometown and make a clean break from their high school life. Then again, if you live in a large city or your kid is ok with staying in town, the local four-year school may be a good choice.
On the whole, it’s probably best to try to figure out where your kids want to go from the start. With transfers, some of the credits won’t transfer, and your kid may need an extra semester or two. If we’re talking about transfers between state schools of the same state, though, credit transfers are much easier, although your kid will lose a few credits. Some schools, especially smaller ones, build a tight community among the student body, and it can be hard to come into the middle of that.
I also don’t know what your financial situation is, but if out-of-state schools are an option, you should begin research on them now, and plan a possible college visit trip this summer.
Good luck! It’s a long haul, but it will feel great when it’s all said and done.
You can still do it that way and plenty of people do. However, I wouldn’t consider that a first choice. Good 4-year universities have more to offer now than ever before and incredible wealth of resources and experiences. CC’s, not so much and being thrown in with less able and motivated students is a risk to bright students.
You would essentially be trying to game the system so that they end up with the same piece of paper at the end as others and it could work for that purpose. However, that is not what the full college experinece is about and getting the piece of paper should only be part of the goal.
I believe a degree from a good 4-year college is one of the best life investments you can make, not only from an economic standpoint, but for its own sake as well.
You gotta look at your kids, and see what’s right for them. There is no one-size-fits all here.
Junior college:
Benefits: Cheap, and close to home. Can serve as a segue to “real” college.
Disadvantages:
Quality of classes varies. If your kids are in all AP and honors classes, they are going to be severely underchallenged in many cases. A signifigant relaxing of academic rigor is not a good idea.
Not much of a sense of community (though this may vary from school to school: I am talking about the ones I know). If your kids are very active: band and student council and Spanish club and football games, they won’t find much of that at community college, where most people see school as a small component of a life that has things like a full time job and/or a family taking up most of their time. A sudden social vaccum is not always a good thing, especially if they are also finding their school work easier than it has ever been. It’s practically an invitation to party to excess.
Lack of passion among fellow students and instructors. Again, there are exceptions, but in many cases the teaching staff of community colleges is mostly adjunt instuctors paid $1500/per class/per semester. They can teach their subject quite competently, but they are less likely to be anxiously scanning their rolls looking for the kids they can turn into the graduate students of tomorrow.
Basically, community colleges can be great and serve an essential role. They are great for kids who don’t even know if they want to go to college, and for people that are returning to college as a component of a really busy life. That said, if either of your daughters has a real passion for learning, or is someone who thrives in the sense of community a school can have, then I would really try and start them in a four year school.
Another thing: what are their PSAT (or SAT if you have them) scores? Of course testing isn’t everything, yaddie yaddie ya, but if they are high, it potentially opens up some doors you should consider (honors programs, things like that)
It depends largely on what sort of college they’re expecting to end up in. Many good schools will simply laugh at you if you want to transfer CC credits. When I was there, Swarthmore College didn’t even like accepting credits from UPenn. Getting an undergrad degree from a good school will open more doors than one from a not-as-good school, especially if grad school is a possible future option.
Of course, college is expensive. If you all simply can’t afford it, make sure you don’t overlook a school because of it’s price. True, CC may be cheaper, but many schools offer pretty good financial aid packages. Yale recently changed their policy so that the familial tuition contribution for housholds making less than $45k is ZERO.
If you can afford the hefty price tag, but just don’t want to, that makes things a bit more difficult. There’s always loans. If those are distasteful, then yeah, CC -> 4-year is probably the cheapest option.
Also, if the one kid may be interested in science, undergrad research is a must if she wants to get into a good graduate program (it helps for med school or just a plain ol’ job too.) I don’t know if CCs will offer any chances to do that.
I think everyone in this thread is going to advocate the direction they went.
There are a lot of factors at play here. One is where you live. in California, many of the CC’s have direct transfer agreements to the UCs, meaning you can spend two years at a CC and if you do well you can transfer to UC Berkeley. It’s a good deal.
Going straight to a four year is always going to be more fun. You’ll get the full college experience with all the partying etc. But it’s WAY more expensive and if you arn’t majoring in something that leads directly to a job (like accounting), the loan debts afterwards can be crippling even if you do get a good financial aid package. Now that I’m looking at paying $200 a month for the next fifteen years, you can bet I’m thinking that maybe I should have done things a little differently.
CCs can have some advantages. Usually class sizes are much smaller for general ed classes. In general, transfer students at four year universities tend to be more mature and get more out of their classes. If your kids discover college isn’t for them (it happens a lot) they won’t do that at a cost they are going to be paying back for decades. But the drawbacks are you won’t get as much specialized equipment and fewer chances to shine in those two years. The other is that some people just can’t get invested enough in a CC. Many of the people who went the CC route when I graduated high school six years ago are still taking and dropping classes It’s just really easy not to take your classes seriously and to let things like work, relationships, etc. be more important.