Community College is an Option

By Cassandra Senior

Before you read any further, I'm going to warn you that I am about to make two statements that you may not like. They might cause nausea, stomach cramps or uncontrollable weeping. Yet, despite that physical pain they may cause, I'm going to say them because it very well might save you financial pain, which hurts a lot more in the long run. Ready?

Consider commuting to college.

Yeah, I know it hurts, so let's just rip the bandage off quick and get on with statement two.

Consider community college.

Now please, before you scoff and click away, hear the argument out. If you are one of the lucky few who feel no dread when consider the skyrocketing price of college tuition, then I hate you. Just kidding, sort of. You are certainly more fortunate than most of us who, as we think about college, consider scholarships, financial aid and student loans with as much or more scrutiny than we consider class sizes, distance from parents and availability of bars within walking distance. And let's face it, those are very important to consider.

To ease you onto the idea of the dreaded C.C., here are some facts about tuition that you may not have known:

• The average price of one year at a community college is just over $2,000. Public universities, provided you get in-state tuition, is about two and one-half times that, and private colleges ten times.
• Adding room and board to the cost of non-community colleges will add, on average, around $7,000 per year.
• The price of college rose 6% between the '05-'06 and '06-'07 school year, and that is considered a small increase.

It is also important to note that more and more students are taking six years to

graduate rather than four. The increase in length of stay is attribute to various reasons such as changing majors and the need to take remedial classes that may not count for credit, but the bottom line is that more time in school means more money spent on school-and more debt collecting interest for longer.

Truth be told, once you complete your associates degree at a community college and move on to attend a four-year, the diploma you get in the end will be no less respected than those the kids who stayed there all four years got. It does not just look exactly the same, it acts exactly the same for the purpose of resumes, job interviews or grad school applications. You still had to get in and do the course work, so it doesn't really matter if it was done for two or four years.

If you have started to mull the idea of community colleges over, here are some suggestions as to why this might be the road for you:

• You aren't sure what you want to study. Changing you major or picking different types of electives to get an idea of where you want your life to go is a lot cheaper in community college.
• General education requirements can be easily transferred between two and four year schools-those are the kind of classes that are basically the same no matter where you go.
• You can save up money by working and living at home. Then you can take out fewer loans when you transfer.
• In the end, the decision is obviously yours, but I hope you at least consider the idea and set aside prejudices you may have about community colleges and community college kids.

And besides, while the community college is significantly closer to your parents than that other school, I bet there are still a lot of cool bars by your house, too.