Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
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Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#2Good. If nothing else, maybe it’ll help instill values of financial responsibility (I watched a report on crippling student debt where a woman went $150k in debt to get a theatre arts degree from NYU and now works as a waitress).
There are actually lots of options to get a good education without breaking the bank. Transfer from community college is just one. Another is becoming a state resident for good state schools (eg UT Austin). This may require delaying college for a year but that’s not so bad either. Yet another is ROTC.
I’m all for people asking “how much will this cost and how much will it improve my economic prospects?”
At the high end I’m kinda sick of hearing FAAMG SWEs complain about not making ends meet because they can’t afford a 5 bedroom house in Palo Alto as well as pay $400k per child to send them to a top tier private school so it’s not like the need for learning financial responsibility is limited to the middle class.
Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#3Some of the large introductory classes at four year institutions are not so great anyway, as many faculty would rather focus on research and classes that feed in talented undergrads for summer research.
IMHO the biggest potential loss are the social connections that can develop over four years versus just two. These can be crucial for friendship and for career connections, depending on the field.
Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#4I went from a community college with an associates to a bachelor degree program. On one hand some of my credits didn’t transfer over to my state college . But on the other hand I got a great gpa, figured out that college was a good fit and got my bachelors in CS.
I also was able to compile a weather model at a weather forecasting class . I took Hapkido and got my purple belt . I had a bunch of fun and became treasurer at the philosophy club. I learned Linux and Python at the local Linux club . My community college experience was great !
Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#5Good.
There's nothing I learned in the first two years of an extremely expensive private school that wouldn't have been sorted out living at home and going to community college.
Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#6Good. There's nothing I learned in the first two years of an extremely expensive private school that wouldn't have been sorted out living at home and going to community college.
Would you be able to make the same connections in a community college?
Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#7That's what I did and it was lit. Worked at kmart for a year then pretty much paid my tuition out of savings. Stood way out in all my classes. Got transfer scholarship to my state flagship. If money isn't an issue I guess four years could be better, but it seems pretty good to use CCs.
Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#8Good. If nothing else, maybe it’ll help instill values of financial responsibility (I watched a report on crippling student debt where a woman went $150k in debt to get a theatre arts degree from NYU and now works as a waitress). There are actually lots of options to get a good education without breaking the bank. Transfer from community college is just one. Another is becoming a state resident for good state schools…
It's hilarious how many weird outbursts I've seen from people who probably consider themselves middle class talking about how they barely have any money at all after they pay their rent in Manhattan, send their kids to private school and max out their 401ks, and make payments on their investment properties. It's like alright buddy lol
Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#9Good. If nothing else, maybe it’ll help instill values of financial responsibility (I watched a report on crippling student debt where a woman went $150k in debt to get a theatre arts degree from NYU and now works as a waitress). There are actually lots of options to get a good education without breaking the bank. Transfer from community college is just one. Another is becoming a state resident for good state schools…
Honestly, I can't understand how people can sympathize with college students going into crippling debt any more than a proverbial Chinese teen who sold his kidney to purchase an iPhone (this news story from a couple of years ago probably was fake anyway). Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges
#10My older sibling and I both grew up in a single-parent household. Since we were tight on money, my sister decided to go to community college after high school in part to look after me while our parent worked. After two years, my sibling transferred with a full ride to a good university.
Looking to my sibling's experience, I decided to leave high school when I turned 16 to attend community college and accrue transfer credits. 2.5 years later, I transferred to a good university and graduated earlier than my high school peers, saving tens of thousands of dollars. I had a blast during this time, as it really helped shape my most formative years of development, especially being exposed to so many diverse groups (as you would expect at a community college).
Now my other younger family members are looking to my experiences and deciding for themselves if the last two years of high school or first two years of university education are important to them. Now they are taking the community college route to save money, and they seem to understand that they can still derive meaningful experiences and relationships.