Getting a college degree doesn’t have to break the bank, notes the Hechinger Report. Increasingly, cost-conscious students seeking a bachelor’s degree are living at home and starting at a local community college.
Those who complete an associate degree may benefit from transfer agreements with state universities.
University of Virginia guarantees admission to transfer students from the state’s community-college system if they’ve earned their associate degree within the previous two years and have a grade-point average of at least 3.4.
Earlier this year, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell said it will provide up to four semesters of free tuition toward a bachelor’s degree for students who’ve earned associate degrees (with at least a 3.0 GPA) at one of the state’s 15 community colleges.
Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo offers scholarships of $6,500 over two years to transfer students from the state’s community-college system who’ve earned associate degrees with at least a 3.75 GPA.
Elite colleges and universities now see community college transfers as a way to increase racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity.
Amherst’s dean of admissions, Thomas Parker, says transfer students accepted by Amherst are “much more likely to have had really serious life experiences, either positive or negative,” than students entering straight from high school.
Community college transfers are the exception, however. Most never make it to a bachelor’s degree. Even well-prepared students can get off the completion track, argues Crossing the Finish Line, by William Bowen, a former Princeton president, and co-authors. Students who start at community colleges are 36 percent less likely to earn bachelor’s degrees than similarly qualified students who start at four-year colleges, the book states.
“Saving a few thousand bucks by sending your kid to a community college could turn out to be an expensive mistake,” writes Kim Clark in U.S. News, citing Bowen’s book.
Monirath Siv, a Cambodian immigrant, disagreed in the comments.
I graduated valedictorian at high school. Due to financial challenges, I attended a California’s community college. My father earned less than $10k a year.
. . . community college creates so many possibilities for me. Without community college, I might not be who I am and where I am today.
Siv’s near-perfect GPA at Cerritos College helped him earn six scholarships, including one from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation that will allow him to graduate debt-free from Washington University in St. Louis in 2012. A biology major, with a minor in public health, Siv plans to teach high school biology before earning a PhD.
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