Blog Post: COMMUNITY COLLEGE (vs.) FOUR (4) YEAR UNIVERSITY: Which choice will you make?

Hear ye, hear ye, high school students, moms, dads and grads!  Now is the time to register for college for the fall semester, are you ready?  Grads, are you ready to transition from the high school life to the college life?  Do you know the difference between going to a community college or to a four (4) year university?

Basically we all know the answer to that last question.  However in these uncertain financial times, what have you planned for your student’s college future?  What colleges have you applied to?  Hopefully in high school your student planned their future career with a counselor.  They probably took career assessments, wrote essays, filled out college applications and now are hoping to get that acceptance letter to their 1 st choice college to start their new life.  As grads travel down the road of education, they’ll soon realize how expensive that journey can be.

THE PROBLEM:  As the State Budget crises continues,  money short falls has caused many colleges and four (4) universities to either increase enrollment fees or cut back on enrollment allocations.  For those students applying this year our state budget has caused an impact on their application.

ONE ANSWER:  One recommendation is to attend a local community college first.  Instead of going straight to a four (4) year university right out of high school, an option you have is to attend a local community college.  Most two (2) year community colleges have transfer agreements with the bigger universities.  This means that you could go to the community college for two (2) years then transfer to the four (4) year school.  I recommend visiting your local community college and speak with their Transfer Center staff and ask them about their transfer programs.  

Another question I have for your student is what will you be studying?  What is your Major?  Concerning all colleges and universities there is a website that you can go to research and it’ll help you to actually identify what classes you can take in regards to your Major.  This website allows you to identify some of the classes you can take at a community college (lower division) and what the same class would equate to at the university level.   Please visit this website at www.assist.org to learn more. Also let me define Assist.

DEFINE ASSIST:  Assist is a computerized student-transfer information system that can be accessed over the World Wide Web. It displays reports of how course credits earned at one California College or university can be applied when transferred to another. ASSIST is the official repository of articulation for California’s colleges and universities and therefore provides the most accurate and up-to-date information available about student transfer in California.

Yes, going to college is a choice that a lot of moms, dads, and grads, have to make.  Where their students go depends on a lot of factors.  Some things that we all have to consider are; Application dates, Grades, Major, location, and even money, just to name a few. 

Additionally when you begin your college journey either at a community college or at a university, you will want to definitely meet with an academic counselor and develop a plan.  An education plan will identify the classes you need for your Major and it will give you an overview of how it all works.

Concerning costs, I do know that going to a community college at the present time only cost $20.00 a unit.  A real bargain in today’s economy!  Which one will you choose -- a local community college or a four (4) university?  There are a lot of factors to consider.  Feel free to give me some comments on my blog to let me know what you or your grad decides to do.  Best of luck in your decision.