You’re fresh out of high school and you’re looking forward to your college career. Why should you be considering community college right now? Because it’s probably the wisest choice you can make.
Community college may bring to mind the idea of a bleak or boring campus, sub par courses, and a college experience that’s just not what you were hoping for. But that’s not necessarily true. Community colleges provide a valuable step on the road to university.
Attending community college is particularly helpful for students who have had difficulty getting into their college of choice. Your performance in high school is not necessarily indicative of how you’ll do in college, but big universities don’t see it that way. In community college, you’ll have a chance to show just how well you can do, and bring up your grades so that you can go to your school of choice. The majority of students attending community college do so with the plan to transfer to a four-year institution, so you won’t be alone.
The community college you attend will likely have a transfer program that can help you with your plan to transfer to a four year university. Community colleges generally offer assistance in creating an associate’s degree plan that will be acceptable for transferring to your school of choice.
An important detail to keep in mind about community college is that once you’re done, you should have an associate’s degree. Having an associate’s degree while you’re still in college will give you an incredible advantage over your classmates who started out in a four year institution. You’ll have a degree for your resume, which is very helpful if you’d like to have a real job while studying at your university. Additionally, if it turns out that you need to take a break, you will still have your associate’s degree to hang onto-if you started at a four year institution, you’d just have incomplete coursework to accompany you on your break.
In addition to helping you get into the school you really want, and achieving a degree in just a couple years, community college can save you an incredible amount of cash. Sure, community colleges don’t often come with the trappings of universities like a football team, research labs, or state of the art gyms, but at the same time, they don’t come with the fees for those perks, either. Tuition at community colleges is undoubtedly more affordable than a four year institution.
When considering community college for your future, keep in mind all of the advantages that it offers. You just might find that community college is exactly what you need.