<p>I was wondering if anyone (parents) on this forum were encouraging their children to attend CC for two years then transfer? </p>
<p>I'm a recent high school graduate with a 3.66 GPA, 21 ACT, with good Chinese SAT score. I've already looked at dozens of scholarships and applied for some, but the fact still remains that my family CANNOT pay for a four-year university. Some might think that I could find a full-ride scholarship need grant, but I don't qualify because my family owns a very unique business that supports humanitarian efforts overseas, and thus it appears that we have a lot of money, which in fact we do not.</p>
<p>Long story short, community college is the best and only option for me, and my parents encouraged it from the start because they CAN'T really help. Also I know quite a few kids who go off to university first two years on some financial aid, but end up with ten years of college debt on their hands all for the sake of the traditional college experience, and they're now trying to raise their own families!</p>
<p>You are not providing enough information about the type of classes you have taken such as college prep or A.P and honors. You may not want to assume that you will not receive financial aid either. I think that decision all depends on what you are comfortable with and whether you will feel challenged and happy at a CC. Your ACT score indicates to me that you may have been in college prep classes but of course that may not have been the case. The bottom line is that if you feel you can use the CC as a good start than by all means go for it. Good Luck to you!</p>
<p>Community college is not in my D’s plans or in my plans for her; however, I think it’s a good alternative for a number of students, including those who don’t want to take on the debt that would be required to spend 4 years at a more expensive school and those who aren’t ready to go away to college yet. This year, although the vast majority of graduates at my D’s HS are going to 4 year colleges, there were more kids going to the local community college than to any single other school. Most if not all of them will use the CC as a springboard to a 4 year school. If you can’t get financial aid and can’t otherwise afford to go right to a 4 year school, I don’t see anything wrong with starting at a CC.</p>
<p>As a cc graduate myself, I consider it a great option. I would certainly encourage it if the alternative was to go tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Thanks to my two years in cc living at home, I was able to graduate debt-free from a four-year uni.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with community colleges - here in California they provide an excellent start to a college education - and the UC and the CSUs provide their students with easy paths to transfer. </p>
<p>Here is a link which shows that over 20% of the students across the UC come from CCs.</p>
<p>I graduated with a college preparatory diploma as a homeschool/private school graduate. I received curriculum from a Christian private school, and I was enrolled in their scholarship program.</p>
<p>I had three years math, four years english, four years social studies (history), three years science, nine electives (over four years), and two years of Mandarin Chinese (actually four, but that was before I enrolled in high school so that didn’t receive credit). The private school I was enrolled in didn’t have AP courses. Over all I graduated with 25.5 credits.</p>
<p>Same here. As I have said before on CC, my three siblings also attended cc and we all ended up finishing our degrees and in professional careers. It’s a great option.</p>
<p>Make sure that you meet with an advisor at the cc and let him/her know of your plans. He or she can help you select courses that will transfer easily. If you have a particular university you would like to transfer to, you can also talk with someone from that school. Here in Virginia the state universities have agreements with the cc’s to accept transfers as long as certain requirements are met. Good luck!</p>
<p>My DD was annoyed to consider CC, but she wanted a private U, with solid merit $ and doing 2 years CC, she was able to transfer to finish and the OOP costs will be about the same as the siblings 4 year uni.</p>
<p>DD did all her GE, coordinated it with the small private to which she aspired and it all worked well. She was totally on top of the process, but it would be easy to take interesting courses which check off no boxes and thus end up needing longer to graduate.</p>
<p>Because she attends a small private she has been able to fit right in, make great friends and come to the attention of various faculty- she is a TA for the dept head, by 2nd semester she had several campus job offers, has the roommate thing figured out and is having a blast. She was also nominated for a small department award.
It has not been perfect, there were a few times when she did not get just what she wanted, but in general she is extremely happy with her experiences there and glad she put up with CC.</p>
<p>Her profs already know her well enough that they are encouraging PhD etc for the future, so missing the first two years has not appeared to negatively affected her potential.</p>
<p>The toughest part about CC was just enduring the 2 years, DD knew many local people there, but they were not people she had spent time with in HS; she always managed to have friends to talk to before and after class, but did not make any good friends that she has kept. Many of the girls had kids and were in a different place in life and it just did not happen.</p>
<p>DD is very gregarious, so it was a bit odd at first for her, though she lucked into some local friends still being around and she is also content with herself and her family, so she made a conscious decision to view it as a means to an end and she did get to know some CC profs so she had LORs for the transfer.</p>
<p>Happykid’s school is in suburban Washington, DC, and is one of those places that turns up every year in Newsweek’s “Top High School” list. Every single year the GREATEST number of graduates head straight to our local community college. Some go because great HS or not they still are graduating at the bottom of the class and have no other options. Many more go because it is what their family can afford - including some of the top of their HS class who enroll in the various honors programs. Successful graduates of this community college transfer (the best win sizable scholarships too) to colleges and universities all over the country.</p>
<p>You can get a good start at your community college.</p>
<p>S has his heart set on one and only one 4 year college which fortunately offers his grad studies. He’s going to have loans to repay because we can’t afford so many years and because the school doesn’t have to give much aid.</p>
<p>Don’t settle for what you don’t want or for what you think is your only option. If you want to go to cc for a while then that’s perfectly fine. If you want to hold out for state and privates, then that’s fine too. Just get the apps out there and apply for scholarships because you never know what might come your way. </p>
<p>As others have said, if you do go to cc make sure to talk to the 4 year dept. so you’ll know exactly which classes you need and which ones will transfer. There’s no sense going to cc if half the classes aren’t needed. You will have wasted your time and most importantly wasted $.</p>
<p>OP
At my school nearly 1/4 of all students go to a CC and most of them transfer to very nice places at a much lower cost. My own mother went to a CC, so i think they are a GREAT place to start
Go for it</p>
<p>My kids did not consider community college, but I know some parents who prefer it, and not just for financial reasons.</p>
<p>I have a colleague at work whose oldest child went the community-college-and-transfer route and who was so pleased with how well it worked out that he encouraged another one of his children to do the same thing. The reasons weren’t just financial. Community colleges have smaller classes than universities do; there tend to be 30-student sections rather than 300-student lectures. For some students, this is a big advantage.</p>
<p>The important thing is to find out whether the classes at your community college are rigorous enough so that you would be able to transfer to a four-year university after you complete your associate’s degree. In our area (the same part of Maryland where Happymomof1 comes from), they definitely are, and students transfer very successfully to our flagship state university and other four-year colleges.</p>
<p>The reasons I’m going to CC are purely financial. I don’t want debt. I could take out some loans this year and snatch whatever financial aid I’m provided with, but I DON’T WANT DEBT. I’ve already searched for various scholarships, but the fact is CC is the better route. Also I missed a lot of senior scholarship deadlines because I didn’t know to look for certain ones. I’m already graduated. In a way it would have been nice had me and my family known more about the various scholarships offered out there, but of course we are only human. </p>
<p>I do hear some really good things about CC, and even my local CC. I’m excited.</p>
<p>And something I’d just like to insert:</p>
<p>Yes, four year colleges/universities probably offer more as far as social friend-making goes because a lot of students are in the same age range, and also other clubs/organizations are available…but by all means, once you graduate from that, you’re going out into the real world where it is much much more diverse (lets face it, most people don’t live in dorms and go to the cafeteria for the rest of their lives). In a sense you leave it. I think CC gives the added opportunity of seeing what “real life” is like by including people who are all ages and who all have different circumstances like one parent mentioned about her daughter knowing some mothers with children.</p>
<p>Our community college options are kind of limited where we live and that’s part of the reason I didn’t encourage it much for my sons. Besides which, both are going into somewhat specialized fields and that further limited the options.</p>
<p>I think that for someone getting a more ‘general’ degree it can be a real plus. For my sons one would have had to still take four years of classes at his university of choice due to the degree requirements. For the other son, he actually COULD live at home and attend the college of his choice…it’s exactly as far away from home as the closest community college, but I think that in his case (art school) he’s going to benefit more from being on campus and having easy access to the facilities there. </p>
<p>Plus, it’s HIS choice that he wants to live there and is willing to assume the debt associated with living there.</p>
<p>But the short answer is that, yes, if it were feasible and reasonable I might encourage my kids to attend community college for at least a couple of years.</p>
<p>Absolutely true what you say about the social aspect. I met some great people of all ages through cc, including the guy who is my very best friend almost 30 years later. </p>
<p>I don’t know about your cc, but mine had organizations you could join so there still was some of that “college experience.” I was editor of my cc’s newspaper, mentored by a wonderful woman who helped me for years to come after I left. Our journalism crowd hung around a lot with the student govt. crowd. Really, I look back at my cc days more fondly than I do my uni days!</p>
<p>I agree. If you’re going for a more specialized degree (ie something that you KNOW will get you a good paycheck), then some debt won’t be too bad. </p>
<p>And of course if the kid is willing to work to pay off the debt later, then good. Shows some responsibility.:)</p>
<p>I find it sad to see a four year university graduate (all four years) graduate with a degree in psychology or history, and have to job hunt for minimum wage jobs that even high school graduates are knocking each other over for. Then they struggle a lot because they have so much school debt and a degree that needs a master’s or that isn’t in demand.</p>
<p>OP,
Keep in mind that if you don’t qualify for financial aid now and your parents’ situation doesn’t change in two years, you probably won’t qualify for FA when you apply to transfer.</p>
<p>I don’t know what state you live in, but here in CA, two years at a UC (living on campus) will still cost you about $50K.</p>
<p>You will need to do very well academically at cc if you hope to get merit money once you transfer; and you should consider getting a part-time job and start saving, as well. Good luck!</p>
<p>My family will qualify for a certain amount of aid. But compare that to a $24,000 college. I might get a Pell Grant, and like I said, I could shrug off any “debt fear” and go into university cold turkey…but I’m playing it safe.:)</p>
<p>Also, I’m planning on taking a certificaction course for pharmacy technician so I can hopefully get a good job to help pay for the rest of my college years.</p>