<p>"Julie Hong grew up in the sort of leafy Montgomery County suburb where college is assumed. Her parents had saved for the expense since she was a baby. When the time came, they said she could go wherever she wished. She chose a community college.</p>
<p>Comparatively affluent students are picking community colleges over four-year schools in growing numbers, a sign of changing attitudes toward an institution long identified with poorer people.</p>
<p>A recent national survey by Sallie Mae, the student loan giant, has found that 22 percent of students from households earning $100,000 or more attended community colleges in the 2010-11 academic year, up from 12 percent in the previous year. It was the highest rate reported in four years of surveys.</p>
<p>In the lengthening economic downturn, even relatively prosperous families have grown reluctant to borrow for college. Schools are finding that fewer students are willing to pay the full published price of attendance, which now tops $55,000 at several private universities. More students are living at home ..."</p>
<p>Is the four-year college bubble leaking air?</p>
<p>This doesn’t suprise me at all. Coming from a family that doesn’t qualify for financial aid, 50K+ tuition is absolutely absurd. Colleges should stop handing out aid left and right and start encouraging people to save for an affordable education. I wonder when the college bubble will burst…</p>
<p>The price of college nowadays is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t blame anyone for going to a good CC where they can get a great education for a tiny fraction of the cost. I know at our local CC, some of the professors also teach at Ivys and top-tier schools. You can get a good education for a couple thousand dollars a year.</p>
<p>Could it be that her goal school was University of Maryland, College Park, but she did not get in, and balked at paying a lot of tuition for a “lesser” school? Going to community college for another try at the flagship (as a transfer) is certainly a valid strategy which has been used for decades (and is often explicitly encouraged by state university policies).</p>
<p>Community college certainly has other advantages for some students, such as less pressure to decide a major quickly (good for undecided students), and ability to attend part time (good for those who must work a lot, although it may reduce the success rate of reach transfer-readiness in reasonable time). But students who are advanced to the point of wanting to take upper division courses as freshmen or sophomores would likely be less satisfied starting out at community college.</p>
<p>Anything can interpeted from that 22% statistic of 100K incomes going to CC…perhaps the families are blue collar employees who make that as a family income, , a dual income of 100k is not that unusual ,particularly in major cities and surrounding suburbs, and considering the cost of housing in those areas,not much left for college</p>
<p>It is not news here in Montgomery County Maryland that a student would choose MC over 4-year institutions. Back when Happykid was in 9th grade, I ran the statistics myself for college choice as reported by graduating seniors, and learned that MC had the greatest draw from her “Newsweek Top 100” suburban high school. The second largest number of students head to UM-CP, and the third largest group head to other 2- and 4-year public institutions in Maryland. The exact numbers of students headed each direction shifts a bit from one year to the next, but the rank order has not budged in years.</p>
<p>MC has three honors programs that I know of, as well as the option of taking individual honors sections of many courses. The transfer counselors are dedicated to getting students who want to transfer into the best places with the most money. Read up on it at [Montgomery</a> College](<a href=“http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/]Montgomery”>http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/)</p>
<p>NOVA across the river in Northern Virginia has a similar reputation as a first class institution for families that don’t want their budgets blown. Again, it isn’t news and D.Devise at the Washington Post should know that. Yes, these two institutions are drawing larger numbers from this particular sector of the population than they might have drawn 10 years ago, but even 10 years ago families that could “afford” other options were indeed choosing NOVA and MC.</p>
<p>I am also betting she didn’t get into UMCP or she got a spring admit to UMCP and decided the other colleges she got into were not worth the extra money. UMCP has always been popular with Montgomery county students because they can commute to UMCP. Now that option is off the table for many higher earning Montgomery County families because the student must also be high achieving. It has become much harder to get into UMCP. </p>
<p>In my experience you had to be in the top 5% of your class to get into UMCP. They may have admitted a higher percentage of the entire class when you include the spring admits or those high schools with really great students. I keeping hearing Montgomery County schools do not rank. I am sure the college can figure out who the top 5% is anyway. </p>
<p>No worries though because there are several really good community colleges in Maryland for a really good price. Besides if you are top 5% of you graduating class many of the directionals will give you a nice tuition break.</p>
<p>Can’t speak to Montgomery County, but i find it hard to believe people who live in many of those communities are strapped for cash that they ‘need’ to save money on college costs…i have friends that just moved there, and many of their neighbirs,including themselves,s end their children to private school at a cost of 25k + ,and this is elemeantary and middle school…i can’t believe thata parent would then turnaround and send the kids to a CC…</p>
<p>Not news here at all. It’s a quite common strategy around here for families to send their kids to the local comm college for 2 years with the goal of transferring into our state flagship, which is well regarded and will pretty much get them anyplace they’ll ever want to go (except for Wall Street, to fend off the inevitable “but they’ll never work for Goldman Sachs!” crowd - as if most people care). At the neighboring more-affluent school district, rumor had it that quite a lot of families were now employing this strategy (especially if they had several kids close together). </p>
<p>Can’t say it’s a bad strategy if the kid can stay motivated.<br>
Our local comm college is a decent place and they offer a lot for the money.</p>
<p>No doubt this is true^^^ but given that scenario, those types would never,lol, let
their kids go to a CC, as that would cast a light on their finiancail well being…they’d likley take on more debt. ;)</p>
<p>Maybe, maybe not. It depends on their social circles. There are affluent people / communities where sending your kids to a CC or state flagship is not an “oh, horrors, I can’t believe they’ve done that” mark of shame. And, of course, there are affluent people for whom it is more of a mark of shame. Not everyone values the private college / elite experience the way many of on this board (myself included) do.</p>
<p>Can honestly say, i know not a single rich,well-off family that would even consider a CC,likely because they have the resources to pay for a flagship or private school</p>