When I graduated from high school, I had my eyes on a 4 year college, but for lots of reasons, mainly financial, it wasn’t going to happen.
Grudgingly, I went to my local Community College for two years.
Best thing that ever happened to me.
Firstly, classes you take the first two years of college are pretty much generic (English 101, Math 101 etc.) no matter if it is a large university or a state college. The school I attended had some pretty cool younger teachers from the big 10 Universities and you got to hear about which schools were better and why.
Secondly, by staying at home and working part time, I was able to save quite a bit of money.
Thirdly, my grade point wasn’t bad in high school, but I did far better in the Community College and when I sent my applications out for my junior year at a university, I was accepted at every college where I applied!
And lastly, by the time I went to the university, I was “over” the party hearty experience and was able to keep my grades up. Not to say I was an angel, but I knew how to divide my time between fun and keeping up with classes. I think that is called growing up and it made the adjustment to a large university a lot easier than if I had jumped in there at age 18.
There is no particular reason for my writing this, but I just thought in case there is anyone out there who is undecided, this might help.
I might also add that at the Community College, there were people from ages 18-65 in my classes and it made for an interesting mix. So in case there is someone reading this who thinks they are “too old” to get a college degree, think again. The local Community College would be a good place to start.
When I graduated high school, I was broke and my parents were broke too. I went to the local Community College for a few years while I figured out what I wanted to do. I lived at home, worked part-time when class was session and eventually graduated debt-free from the local university. I can’t recommend it enough, even though I know it’s harder to do in California since ex-Governor Wilson spiked tuitions. Many of my friends went to out of state schools, were lonely, got boyfriends, got pregnant and never finished school.
I, too, went to a community college and have nothing but good things to say about it. I did not go on to a university, but went to work with my two-year degree and did damned well with it.
I’ve been reading some of the heartbreaking stories on this board of people graduating with a four-year degree and not finding even a sniff of a job. My degree was in secretarial science (although I could also have qualified for anthropology, which was my true love), and that degree got me right into legal secretarial jobs which paid well and have supported me all these years.
So, even if you’d rather go to a prestigious university, don’t turn your nose up at your local community college – at best, you can use your degree to leapfrog on to a bigger school, and at worst, you can fit yourself for many jobs now.
In the state of Washington you can finish your last 2 years of high school at your local community college in a program called “Running Start.” Theoretically your tax dollar goes to the CC instead of the high school, if you opt into the program, so tuition is waved. By the time you graduate from high school you can have two years of college credits all done and paid for and transfer to a four year school.
kiddoeaddi did this for the last year and a half of high school and it’s been great. Her classes seem to be every bit as rigorous as those I remember taking at a four year university.
I generally agree that a community college is a pretty good deal. Much of the cost is subsidized by the district, so your tuition will be much less that at a four-year college. I’ve had my BA for quite a while, but I still take about 1-2 classes a year from my local community college.
However, I have had a few classes that were taught by simply lousy instructors. They were instructors who were not full-time faculty, but were part-timers that were hired just to teach one or two evening classes. I think they took the job expecting it to be fun, but they then turned lazy when they found that doing a good job required some effort. So they would constantly let us out early or cancel classes, not give tests, and in general do a half-assed job of instructing. (This is probably desireable for those students who just want the credit on their transcript and don’t care about actually learning the material, but for someone like me who is taking a course to learn a new computer language, which is directly job related, it’s a maddening experience). The quality instructors where always those that were full-time faculty.
I love community colleges! I went to four year university right out of high school, but since I graduated in 2000 I’ve taken three community college classes and am currently in another. It’s great. I can fill in the gaps in my education and improve my chances of getting into grad school at a reasonable price. (I’d like to go for a MA in International Development, and while my BA in Anthropology is somewhat related, I need more of an economics background than it gave me. Thanks to the City Colleges of Chicago, I can rectify that inexpensively!)
I live near St. Petersburg College in Florida. It used to be a JC but I think they call themselves a college now because they do offer some 4 year degrees. It’s a great little school with very modern facilities and state-of-the-art teaching methods. I lost count of the number of campuses they have in this area, at least 6. They also have a new campus they share with several other “big” schools http://www.upcspc.com/.
I like really SPC, I’m going to work there someday.
I teach at community college and I like it. Actually, I teach at the same one I went to ages ago. It was and still is a good place to get an education, get involved, make contacts and friends, and more.
I’m a community college student right now, and I love it. I don’t have to live on campus, the schedule is flexible, so I can hold a full time job and live on my own. The degree I’m going for, Business Management is applicable to so much. It might allow me to move up within the company and get a good paying, satisfying job (I like my job now though).
What is really great is that I am around so many people in my situation, not pretentious Big University kids that are still The Center of the Universe .
As a bonus, I’m carrying a 3.6 GPA. I’m not bragging though. I just think I wouldn’t be carrying that if I had gone a Big U. school full time, and not because the classes are easier, which may not be the case. I would be involved in so much junk that I would lose myself. Splitting time between work, school, and fun has allowed me to develop discipline to keep up my grades.
I really want to get an English degree from a four year Big U. school, but I’m not too worried. I figure I can teach myself.
.