Just Go to a Community College, and Forget About a 4-year Uni, Good Idea ?

Parents Forum
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<p>I was waiting to weigh in on this topic. as a returning adult student, I completed every class i could at the cc before going to the university -- purely for financial reasons. But -- I am in a completely different place than most students with a job and family, etc. I found some classes to be excellent -- as good as any undergrad class I have taken at the state university. i found many to be lacking. What I noticed most of all was the lack of community and focus on the degree that you find at most 4 year universities. Many, many students were taking only 1 or 2 classes while working, a good chunk of kids dropped the first two weeks, few participated in activities other than class. Just a completely different atmosphere.</p>

<p>I know that I did read in a recent article here in Colorado that less than 25% of CC students go on to earn a 4 year degree. The article was talking about recent efforts to get cc grads on to good universities -- but I cannot find the article on the internet. I know I was shocked at the statistic -- I thought it would be more like 50%.</p>

<p>I did find an older statistic from 1996 that said the transfer rate from an URBAN community college to a 4 year university was 12%. "Urban community colleges are a potential stepping stone for many working
class and minority students who aspire to the baccalaureate degree.
However, only about 12% of urban community college students transfer to fouryear institutions. " <a href="http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9602&L=aera-j&T=0&P=56%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9602&L=aera-j&T=0&P=56&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>also found this, though: "Preliminary findings suggest that the four-year graduation rates of community-college transfers and those of students who begin their education at four-year institutions are comparable." <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i23/23b00601.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i23/23b00601.htm&lt;/a> these results seem a little unlikely to me.</p>

<p>and some more info -- completely different than the low rates that I assumed: "If one sets aside incidental (10 or fewer credits earned) students from those traditional age students who enter community colleges, the proportion who attend a four-year college at some time has increased from 32 to 44 percent over the past quarter century. But attendance is not transfer: the transfer rate for these students has increased from 27 to 36 percent. What's really stunning is the bachelor's degree completion rate of community college students who transfer after earning at least 10 credits from the community college: it's over 70 percent, and has been for a long time. If done the right way, transfer is a very effective route to the bachelor's for traditional age students (who are an increasingly larger proportion of the community college population)." <a href="http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/2004/04/rates/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://chronicle.com/colloquylive/2004/04/rates/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>contrary to what I thought, it does seem that the cc option is perfectly viable.</p>

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<p>I think the stas on how many CC get 4 year degrees would be very misleading at best.</p>

<p>Many CC focus on AA degrees that place students directly into the workforce and no 4 year degree is required. Of course the stats would be very low for this type of school but these are very very important programs in the US today.</p>

<p>A better measure would be how many student who are on a 4 year track actually finish it. This would be regardless of whether they started in a JC or a 4 year school. For evidence I offer the article below. These numbers are not that far off the number of freshman students that many 4 years schools retain into their junior years</p>

<p>JUMPING OFF POINT. The number of business students earning associate degrees has been steadily rising since 2001. In the 2001-2002 academic year, 86,713 people earned associate degrees in business, and that number rose to 89,564 the next year, according to the 2005 Digest of Education Statistics compiled by the U.S. Education Dept. And more than 92,000 students graduated with an associate's degree in business in 2003-2004, the latest year for which statistics are available.</p>

<p>Often, schooling doesn't end there. About 50% to 60% of community college students transfer into four-year institutions, says James Vomhof, who retired in July as associate director of accreditation at the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, a group that accredits business education.</p>

<p>Source:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jul2006/bs20060727_186321.htm?chan=bschools_undergrad+programs_undergraduate+b-school+news%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jul2006/bs20060727_186321.htm?chan=bschools_undergrad+programs_undergraduate+b-school+news&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>