Community college or four-year college? The idea of attending a four-year college sounds awesome, doesn’t it? You get to do your thing whenever you want. You are on your own. You are making your own way. But let’s face it, a four-year college is not for everyone. Community college often is the right choice for a student, whether it is a short-term choice, a path to an associates or two-year degree, or part of a more affordable financial plan. Why…
Ten years ago, Florida became the first state to allow its community colleges to offer four-year bachelors degrees. Today almost half of Florida’s community colleges offer degrees in a wide variety of subjects. Florida’s success caused other states to follow suit and now 22 states allow their community colleges to offer four-year degrees. Because of pushback from our four-year private and public universities, Illinois has been unable to make it happen--despite the lobbying efforts of our community colleges over the…
When I bring up the subject of community college to families for the first time, I am amazed by the number of misconceptions they have about the idea. However, when parents are stressed out about how they are going to pay for college or have a serious shortfall in their retirement savings, I always encourage them to at least to explore what their local community college has to offer. Here are a few of the biggest myths I try to…
Many parents I encounter seem to have some blind spots when it comes to their student’s readiness for college. Their student’s lack of readiness is not usually an academic issue but, rather, a maturity issue. Many students have no idea of what they want to study by the time they arrive on campus. This, of course, is the reason so many students are taking six years to graduate. If your student is going to be in college for six years because they…