<p>polar, that isn’t what I meant by “readily available.” I meant that as freshman when you apply to many universities you are automatically considered for a boatload of scholarships, and most of the scholarships opportunities you can get your hands on will be tailored to you as an incoming freshman-- not that it’s easy to actually win them. When you’re a transfer student those opportunities aren’t even there for you to be considered no matter how good your grades are. </p>
<p>Kids who would be good candidates for scholarships out of high school NEED to know that. They may come out in much better shape financially going straight to a 4 year if they can secure scholarships as high school seniors, paying for two years of college with loans STINGS no matter how cheap the first two years were. Nobody ever told my family that! Our high school guidance counselor encouraged all the kids with financial problems to go straight to CC, because “it’s exactly the same anyway.” Yeah right!</p>
<p>There’s no guarantee you would have gotten a dime of them. You yourself said you wouldn’t have even gotten into the school you attended (Michigan) without your community college record. There’s no way UM would have given you a freshman merit scholarship, so you missed nothing.</p>
<p>As I said, if one’s record is good enough to qualify for merit awards as a freshman, great, take advantage of that. For most students, that’s simply not the case. They won’t get anything of substance.</p>
<p>There are a lot of really valid reasons to use a CC.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>financial reasons. It is a generally accepted fact, at this point in time, that college is too expensive.</p></li>
<li><p>indecision. Not sure you want to continue school, right then, or not sure what you want to study, yet.</p></li>
<li><p>Family things, where you might need to stay around and help out for a while.</p></li>
<li><p>Not having matured quickly.</p></li>
<li><p>Not having figured out how to be a good student until later in high school.</p></li>
<li><p>To learn a trade.</p></li>
<li><p>Around here, a lot of professional contuing ed and lisencing classes are taught at the CC’s.</p></li>
<li><p>Because you got a GED, or even to get a GED (around here they offer GED classes and the tests.)</p></li>
<li><p>Because life is not a straight line path, and the 4 year graduation rate at most colleges really isnt as high as you might think.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>We happen to be a full pay family. There are some scholarships out there, but a lot of them are really just “hooks” to get your family to go there and to pay. If I had a child who was indecisive about school, or not in the mood, or unsure, or unready to leave home, I’d encourage this area of exploration.</p>
<p>This is getting a little off-topic, but exactly. It sounds great to have someone tell you “hey, you have earned a $15,000 scholarship” but if the sticker price is $49,000… the average family still can’t come close to affording the $34,000 gap.</p>
<p>“Is attending community college and transferring as a junior to a four year university to complete a bachelor’s degree generally considered an acceptable option?”</p>
<p>-Generally? There is no such thing as “generally considered an acceptable option”. There is no problem in some circumstances, while it might not be acceptable under others.
Who would care, if one ended up MBA, PhD or just simply BS in CS? It may or may not be OK for Med. School / Law school admission, again depending on many other variables such as where pre-reqs are taken…etc. I myself have graduated from CC, found my first proffessional job in my field (CS), various employers paid for my BS and MBA, with some credits transferred from CC, but it was few decades ago. Is this path OK now, maybe in some areas, in some industries, maybe not in others???. There is no general rule even if you consider just one field of study. BTW, I had no problem finding 9 places of employment in very economically depressed region that has been depressed for decades, not just recently. I have found my first job (after CC) while unemployment rate in my ciry was about 16% and I have just replied to an ad in newspaper. Yes, luck is always very important factor. You can calculate forever, or just take the most feasible path and use all resources available to you and see what happen. If you work hard enough at any palce, success will follow.</p>
<p>Lots of students in my area are starting at the CC for financial reasons. The level of instruction there is very good. My son was dual-enrolled in Calc 3 last semester and it was by far the most difficult course he’s ever had, and he believes he will still say that after he finishes four years at his 4-year (whatever that will be). Some universities will allow accepted students to defer admission for a year and take their first year courses at a CC.</p>
<p>However, the CC route is not without risks. A counselor friend told me years ago that she discourages young women from starting at the CC if they have other options because they are most at risk of never transferring. She said she’s seen too many who stayed in the hometown, went to the CC, and never left because of a boyfriend. We don’t have a four-year within commuting distance, so this may be a local problem rather than a universal risk.</p>
<p>CC could also be a bad choice for a student who is easily frustrated if classmates are significantly less capable and academically engaged. My son would almost rather not go to college at all than go to the CC next year. He’s been in mostly honors and AP courses in high school, but not every course has an honors option, and he’s beyond fed up with the “slacker kids” that have basically made it so that after four years of high school foreign language, he would be hard pressed to do more than ask for simple directions in it. CC classes aren’t as derailed by slacker students as high school classes are, but a student sensitive to that may not be happy in classes with essentially no admission standard.</p>
<p>As the parent of a community college student, quite frankly I am tired of the “if they start at a CC they don’t finish” argument. What solid evidence is there that marginal student A would actually have finished a 4-year degree in a reasonable amount of time if he/she had just somehow managed to attend a 4-year institution instead? </p>
<p>Likewise, what solid evidence is there that rejected med-school applicant B would have gotten into med school if he/she had somehow scraped the pennies together to attend a 4-year institution from the get-go? Where is the formal statement from at least one medical school that indicates that sciences at a CC lead to automatic rejection?</p>
<p>"This is getting a little off-topic, but exactly. It sounds great to have someone tell you “hey, you have earned a $15,000 scholarship” but if the sticker price is $49,000… the average family still can’t come close to affording the $34,000 gap. "</p>
<p>-yes, getting off-topic, whoever cannot close the gap, should choose the gap that they can close. $49k does not sound like in-state public, it sounds like one of the most expensive private colleges. If a kid applied to such a place, family has decided already that they could afford it. Otherwise, why to waste time and other resources applying? So, at the point of acceptance, this question should never come up IMO. There is nothing wrong with having sent the very high caliber student to in-state public on full tuition Merit award. If a kid is not high caliber academically, then he is not going to be accepted at Elite colleges with high tag price. In either case, problem should not exist, but we are free to create any problem on our own and some love to do so. Life is always full of excitement, real or artificially created, but we do not want to be bored, correct, especially on Friday?</p>
<p>alynor - Just how awful much of what is called foreign language instruction at the high school level is, is a whole other thread. Your child isn’t the only one in his situation. If he wants to master communicative skills in that language, he needs to get into an environment where those skills are necessary. Best choice: an immersion living experience in a country where the language is spoken. Decent option: an immersion course at a summer institute along the lines of Concordia Language Villages.</p>
<p>Apologies for the temporary hi-jack. Now back to our usual programming.</p>
<p>^My kid’s foreign language at HS was awesome, she has placed into 3rd year level at college. And that college class happened to be one of the best ones she took at college. She could speak after one semester, even 2 years later after taking this class. We were impressed when we heard her talking to a person who did not know English at all. We had no idea, our jaws were to the ground. This is still her big advantage even at Med. School…and it all started in elementary and continued in HS.</p>
<p>polarscribe-a nurse with a 2 year degree is eligible to take the test to get an RN just like one with a 4 year degree. In many states it doesn’t matter if you went to a 2 year school or a 4 year school, the RN looks the same. Here, that is not the case and just an illustration as to why CC’s are not attractive options here.</p>
<p>The only reason I’ve seen in the forums to NOT start at a CC is to possibly get merit aid which is tough to find as a transfer. Otherwise I see no impediment to starting at a CC and graduating from a 4 year. Your degree still comes from the 4 year college.</p>
<p>There are about 1.4 million FTE* students in California community colleges, and about 0.5 million FTE students in California public universities.</p>
<p>Steve, that’s because there is an obvious qualitative difference in the amount of education you gain in two years vs. four years. Someone with a BSN has more education than someone with an ASN. That may include more specialized classes, higher math, advanced techniques, whatever.</p>
<p>The RN cert may be the same, but the person with the four-year degree has gone above and beyond the minimum requirements, and that improves employability.</p>
<p>Nobody is arguing that an associate’s degree is equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. Once again, that proves nothing about a nurse who starts at a community college and transfers to a four-year college to complete the bachelor’s degree - which is, after all, the situation we’re talking about.</p>
<p>Your argument remains a nonsensical strawman. Have fun punching it some more.</p>
<p>polarscribe-you are missing the point. In MOST states an RN with a 2 year degree WILL make as much as an RN with a 4 year degree, that is not the case here. I never said people were arguing that an AS is the same as a BS, the point of that illustration was to give an example of why CC’s around here are not seen as a viable option vs CA CC’s that “everyone” seems to attend.</p>
<p>Going to a community college that is close to home is a great idea. It is probably the best option for a large number of students. There are a few reasons why it is a smart choice.</p>
<p>One idea is the fact that many students are not ready to go and live away from home. There is a high incidence of young freshmen being let loose away from parents for the first time in life and they enjoy it so much that college studies go straight to the back burner. Flunking out is not good for anyone whether you are the student or the person paying.</p>
<p>Being at a CC gives the student time to adjust to studying at a college level while still having the support of the same home life that they have become accustomed to for their whole lives. Students don’t realize how different it is being in a college class and how much more work it involves.</p>
<p>Being at a cc will allow the student to prove to themselves and their parents that they are ready to study. There is also always the option of just going part time, which works well for those that need to work while going to school.</p>
<p>Getting your first two years done at a community college is perfect for some people. For one thing it will give the student some time to decide what they want to major in after they are finished with all the basics. Yeah it is true that most people have a pretty good idea of what they want to focus on when they go to college initially, but often those plans are not in reality good idea or at all what the student ends up sticking with.</p>
<p>There is a huge mix of students that end up at a community college. You will find older people that are returning to school. People that work full time and take classes part time have a presence there usually too. There is not as much slacking or partying at CC’s because everyone is there to learn. they don’t have the option of wasting their time or their families money.</p>
<p>A cc can give any student a good base to start from. For those kids that weren’t at the tops of their classes and there is no hope of scholarships, an accepting-cc is a godsend. It will also allow for the student to get accepted into the state school automatically in most cases.</p>