I am a hardworking student who is taking 4 AP courses at the moment. I don’t know what career I want to enter to be honest but I’m considering law. If I go to a public 4yr instate college, I’ll need aid and scholarships definitely. The thing is I dont really stand out in anyway. I’m considering community college but there is so much stigma around it. Is it that bad of a thing? I want to move out of state once I get my degrees, will community college hinder that?
Community college campuses and systems vary. You will need to investigate your local options to see how strong they are academically. Community college credits transfer most easily within your state system, but once you finish your four-year degree it won’t matter if you move out of state.
Also investigate your state system for financial aid and scholarship policies. Run a net price calculator at the four-year campuses to see what those schools will cost after financial aid. Some systems have freshman scholarships that are not available for transfer students.
Community is definitely not a bad place to start. Some people might act like people who go there are “inferior”, but most people who have had some experience with the college system can tell you that there is nothing wrong with starting at a community college, and there are actually some academic benefits as well as financial benefits. You’ll need to do some research, but in some cases, state universities and community colleges will actually share professors, so you can basically get the same experience as you would at a university, but at a lower cost in a smaller classroom. Even if a professor only teaches at community college though, they are still typically pretty highly qualified.
One of the main benefits of universities is that they simply have more resources, meaning more internships, research, etc. available to students who have a pretty good idea of what they want to do. However, if you are just looking into law and not fully committed to anything yet, community college is great for exploring what is right for you before entering university. Community colleges usually have some very knowledgeable faculty who can guide you towards finding your interests and give you more personalized attention than you might receive at a bigger college. I think this will probably be more to your advantage in your current position.
Don’t rule out university completely until you’ve applied and seen their final financial aid offer, but if the cost really is too much, going the community college route will not leave you at any major disadvantage compared to other students.