Community Colleges Offer the Best of Both Worlds

High school graduates who wisely choose to attend a two-year community college find an environment that understands their needs, offers support in a variety of ways, gives them broad options to pursue studies, saves them money, and gives them the advantage of pursuing higher education in the comfort of a familiar environment – their home town.

Community colleges have an open admissions policy that reduces student anxiety about being accepted. They also provide the security of encountering the demands of higher education in a familiar setting, which reduces added anxiety and can lead to higher achievement as the student matures.

One student’s story illustrates the advantages students have when they open the door to the next chapter of their lives at a two-year college. The south Georgia high school senior was devastated when he was not accepted into the university of his choice. His test scores and transcript were just not strong enough, so he took core courses at his local college in the University System of Georgia where he excelled. He smoothly transferred two years later to the University of Georgia, which later accepted him into its veterinary school. He graduated in the top 10 percent of his class and landed a superior internship after graduating.

Additional advantages community college students may find are reduced costs, smaller class size, and more personal attention from professors. Community colleges are designed in a state university system as public access institutions to provide students the core courses they need for a four-year degree. Some also offer technical courses for those seeking to jump-start their vocations and cooperative agreements with four-year institutions whereby a student can earn a four-year degree without having to “go away to college.”

Community colleges are created to serve the community where they are established, so students can live at home and not have to go far to get the basics for a college education. Tuition usually costs less than at a four-year institution in the state system and is definitely lower than private college tuition, including the private two-year junior college.

Community colleges work to keep costs low related to higher education in a variety of ways, such as working with students to create class schedules that fit busy lives and reduce transportation costs. Increasingly, they provide more on-line course options and classes that meet only once or twice a week, supplementing class time with online learning. Not only can students save money with adjusted class schedules, but they also save money on meal plans and dormitory fees or an apartment rental. The community college is designed to save money for students and their families.

In short, community colleges are user friendly, and high school students are smart to consider them. Among the many options students have in the user-friendly environment of the community college are comprehensive courses to choose from (for studies in arts and sciences or technical pursuits), lower tuition, and opportunities to study abroad and have international travel to add to their resumes.

The community college student can be a big fish in a small pond, instead of a little fish in the ocean of a university. He or she can enjoy a full college experience with clubs for many interests, honor societies, study abroad options, and a wide range of extracurricular activities—from chess to sports.

Students may choose to pursue associate degrees and technical certificates in many areas. These include accounting, business administration, criminal justice, education, English, foreign languages, health and physical education, history, mathematics, music, nursing, political science, psychology, sciences, sociology, speech, and general studies. Technical fields include a wide range of computer studies, applied marketing and management, office technology, catering, drafting, EMT, industrial maintenance, licensed practical nursing, paralegal studies, welding, and more.

Editorial provided by Marcia O. McRae, College Relations Director, Bainbridge College, Bainbridge, GA.