A lot of people today are deciding to attend community college before going away to get their Bachelor’s degree at a university. So some may be wondering if this is a good idea or not. What are the pros and cons of starting your post-high school education at a community college? Well, let’s take a look.
Will Your Credits Transfer?
One argument that people make in favor of starting at a community college is that it will help you save money. So is this correct or not? Well, it is true for the most part. Community college courses are cheaper than those you’ll take at a university. But there’s a little more to it than that.
Unfortunately, there’s one downside to starting off at a community college. Your credits and courses might not all transfer over. So you may waste money taking certain courses in community college and have to take similar classes again at the university to make up for it, spending more money.
This was actually something that I did. I attended community college before transferring to Rutgers University. And overall, I would say that I saved a lot of money. But I did struggle with the issue of courses not transferring over.
The interesting thing was that my credits themselves all actually transferred over. But the issue was that not all of my courses transferred over in a way that I could use at Rutgers. Some courses that were enough to help me get my Associate’s degree at my community college didn’t help me at Rutgers in the same way.
Some of the courses from my community college were ones that I simply couldn’t use to help get my Journalism and Media Studies degree at Rutgers. And this was somewhat of an issue financially. Having said that, overall, I think it was a good financial decision in the long run. But this is just the kind of stuff you want to understand before you decide what kind of school to go to.
I say this because this all came as a surprise to me when I was at Rutgers. I did my research before I transferred, using sites like NJtransfer.com. But nobody warned me that some of my courses would be basically useless towards getting my Bachelor’s degree at Rutgers.
Living Away From Home
You also have to consider if you feel like you’re ready to be out on your own yet. This was a big reason that I started out at a community college. And it’s okay to say that you’re not ready to live on your own and leave your family and friends yet.
Additionally, you may feel that you’re not ready for the challenge of studying at a university. The workload at a school like that can be difficult. Some people might be up for the challenge. And if that’s you, go for it. But others might not be ready yet. And that’s fine too.
