Any of your kids live at home and commute to college?

[DawnM]

Our local community college you don't even need to take an SAT or ACT to get in- they take pretty much anyone in there so its very different than other colleges.

And a lot of 4 year schools don't require you to go back and take it to transfer in. They assume if you can do 2 years at CC and get good grades, you can handle college level classes.

The SAT and ACT are not the only measure of academic success.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My sons best friend ended up back home after one year away at a different college. He switched majors and since he could save alot of money living at home, that's what his parents told him he had to do. So far it's worked out for him, he found a part time job and hasn't had a problem following his parents house rules.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's what my daughter ended up doing - she is a homebody and shy. But I will definitely encourage her to spend at least one year away to broaden her horizons. I've been noticing her coming out of her shell slowly but surely over the course of this year so maybe I'm wrong. She still has 2 years of High School to go first.

 

[spinandmarty]

we didn't have tons of money, and with three kids in college at the same time it was not easy, then actually the fourth was in before the third was done.... we always made it plain to our kids we will pay what it cost's for you to go to community college.... if you want to go somewhere else, you have to figure it out your self.... just paying that and the other cost's about killed us... cause mostly we paid for everything but tuition.... oldest went two and a half years community college transfer'ed to private school, lived on campus one year, commuted the next.... second son three years at community college, school never easy for him... had to work his a@@ off all through school, from grade school on... went one year to state school, then transferred to same private as older brother...lived at home the whole time... third son full ride to local private upper class school... lived at home hated it,,, don't know maybe if he had lived on campus might have been better... had three prof's, that he could hardly understand, would have had all three of them for the next three years... switched to community college for two years... then to state school bout an hour away. he and two girls he had worked with at summer camps, rented apartment... school pretty much paid for by scholarships and grants, in fact apartment pretty much paid for... guess a thirty four on you ACT helps a bunch. graduated after two years.. fourth child only daughter started at community college lasted bout a year and a half... ended up at beauty school. did graduate ... not using it but at least she finished....sorry guess I got off topic but what I was trying to say was there is nothing wrong with living at home. some kids should stay at home they just don't have the maturity to be on there own,,, some really need to make that split. they need to spread their wings... but I also believe we push going to college way to much. college isn't for everyone I think it's a sad state for our future that very few schools teach the trade skills anymore..

 

[ols386]

My kids are grown now, but went to local community college first two years, and then went to local university last two years. Saved a ton of money living at home.

 

[tvguy]

How many years ago? I worked in CA from '88 on and it wasn't free then, at least not in LA County. It wasn't expensive, but it wasn't free.

I can't find an exact year, my wife's personal experience was in 1976, and the first tuition amount I can find is $11 a unit in 2000, which would be $264 a year for a full time student. But I do see articles talking about fees being debated after Prop 13 passed in 1978.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

Our local community college you don't even need to take an SAT or ACT to get in- they take pretty much anyone in there so its very different than other colleges.

Isn't that the norm for most community colleges? I'm talking about general courses, not specialized programs.

 

[roseaster]

Isn't that the norm for most community colleges? I'm talking about general courses, not specialized programs.

No. There continues to be quite a bit of snobbery from some people about community colleges. Many offer great educations, and the general courses are the same wherever you go. English comp is English comp. In addition to being 1/3 of the price, all of the credits from community colleges easily transfer to 4 year institutions.

Here are a few things I think. 1) if you have a child that is undecided about what they want to do CC is a great option for getting that routine coursework out of the way and letting them dabble in different things to find out their interest.

2) Cost factor, The costs of college have skyrocketed. So many young people are graduating 100s of 1000s of dollars in debt and can't find jobs that pay enough to allow them to repay their loans and live independently.

Personally, if money and loans were an issue, I would prefer my child live at home in their late teens to early 20s and be able to embark on a debt free, or at least not overwhelming debt, life as a young adult.

I've seen a lot of kids take out loans for $60K a year colleges and graduate and can only get jobs paying $10-$15 and hour.

 

[DawnM]

I can't find an exact year, my wife's personal experience was in 1976, and the first tuition amount I can find is $11 a unit in 2000, which would be $264 a year for a full time student. But I do see articles talking about fees being debated after Prop 13 passed in 1978.

I had to take a few classes back in 1990 and it was $13 per credit if I remember correctly. I was getting my MA at the nearby private University to finish up my teaching credential and part of the credential required me to take 6 undergrad classes because I was getting an add on credential that was out of my field so I didn't have the required coursework. So, I decided that $39 per class instead of $260 per class (at the time) was a better deal, and took those extra 6 over at the CC.

But I don't consider 1978 to be "a few years ago" which is what sparked the question.

 

[DawnM]

No. There continues to be quite a bit of snobbery from some people about community colleges. Many offer great educations, and the general courses are the same wherever you go. English comp is English comp. In addition to being 1/3 of the price, all of the credits from community colleges easily transfer to 4 year institutions.

Here are a few things I think. 1) if you have a child that is undecided about what they want to do CC is a great option for getting that routine coursework out of the way and letting them dabble in different things to find out their interest.

2) Cost factor, The costs of college have skyrocketed. So many young people are graduating 100s of 1000s of dollars in debt and can't find jobs that pay enough to allow them to repay their loans and live independently.

Personally, if money and loans were an issue, I would prefer my child live at home in their late teens to early 20s and be able to embark on a debt free, or at least not overwhelming debt, life as a young adult.

I've seen a lot of kids take out loans for $60K a year colleges and graduate and can only get jobs paying $10-$15 and hour.

My oldest is attending Community College. That may be all he does as his program is all available at the CC. But he does have some significant LDs, so we are thrilled that he found a program he likes and is good at.

The problem with CC for general eds these days though, is that many programs aren't what they used to be. For example, my middle son has considered Engineering. We looked at the pre-requisite requirements and the General Education classes he would need. They can't be done at the CC. Only a few classes would work. I would hate for him to do 2 years of CC, only to have fewer than a full year actually transfer.

We are fortunate, our local 4 year school is not that expensive. Estimated total (per the website) is under $10K for full time tuition, fees, books, etc....(no room and board, that would be commuting). The Community College would be about half of that.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Yeah, engineering is a completely different entity. Even when I was in school, the engineering curriculum didn't have a whole lot of space for anything else, and it's only gotten worse as the engineering world has expanded. I would only encourage an engineering student to take non-related courses at a community college, like English or Drama, unless the school had a specific feeder program into a larger 4-year school.

Something to consider is, could you engineering student take a few core courses over the summers at the local cc--it might help him graduate early, or it might free up his regular schedule for some more interesting engineering classes.

On the plus side, a lot of state universities have decent engineering programs, so that could be a less-pricey option, too.

 

[tvguy]

I had to take a few classes back in 1990 and it was $13 per credit if I remember correctly. I was getting my MA at the nearby private University to finish up my teaching credential and part of the credential required me to take 6 undergrad classes because I was getting an add on credential that was out of my field so I didn't have the required coursework. So, I decided that $39 per class instead of $260 per class (at the time) was a better deal, and took those extra 6 over at the CC.

But I don't consider 1978 to be "a few years ago" which is what sparked the question.

Actually, my wife reminded me that our son went for a year for free to Delta College in Stockton, that would have been 2011. But I have no idea why he was able to go for free.

 

[kamik86]

Yeah, engineering is a completely different entity. Even when I was in school, the engineering curriculum didn't have a whole lot of space for anything else, and it's only gotten worse as the engineering world has expanded. I would only encourage an engineering student to take non-related courses at a community college, like English or Drama, unless the school had a specific feeder program into a larger 4-year school.

Something to consider is, could you engineering student take a few core courses over the summers at the local cc--it might help him graduate early, or it might free up his regular schedule for some more interesting engineering classes.

On the plus side, a lot of state universities have decent engineering programs, so that could be a less-pricey option, too.

This was how my engineering program was.

I was a software engineer and for that you could take your general calculus classes (but not any of the other math), your liberal arts classes, physics, and your 2 free electives. That was all. If you did this for 2 years at a CC you may come in with 2 years of credits but you would be screwed because you wouldn't have your computer science classes done which were a prereq to everything else. So you couldn't take a full load until you got those done. If you took computer science at the CC and did the same language our school was doing you could take a test to get into computer science for AP students but that would still mean a one class refresher before you could do anything else. The program was designed for you to do your gen eds while getting the CS classes out of the way and then get into all the other engineering classes.

What those that lived in the area prior were able to do was do the local community college to the school for the gen eds and dual enroll in our school for the other classes. This gave them cheaper (but not as cheap as just the CC) tuition and many of the gen ed classes were easier at the CC (Physics and Calculus were, since if you were at our school you took them with the math and physcis majors). This worked well for software engineers since we didn't really need physics and calculus for our later classes. Mechanical and Electrical engineers had the downside that is when they got to upper level engineer classes and needed physcis and calculus the teachers assumed they had all the topics our school would have covered.

 

[Aliceacc]

My siblings and I commuted, and had no issues.

My husband went to a state school, and loved it.

My oldest will be going to a Catholic college 150 miles away. It's a small school, and absolutely the right place for him.

Just a word on the state school thing: keep in mind that they're not always the cheapest, or the only relatively "affordable" (hah!) option. Take a look at financial aid as well as tuition. Private schools tend to have more flexibility as far as offering aid goes.

A great site to get you started is www.collegenavigator.gov Take a look not only at tuition, but at the percent of kids who get institutional aid, and at the average amount. You may be surprised that a lot of doors will open.

 

[McKelly]

My DD has her choices narrowed down to two colleges. One is 15 minutes away, the other five hours away. She is very shy and introverted. IF she picks the one closest to home, I will support her either way whether or not she wants to live at home or in the dorms. I think for her, at least a year in the dorm might be good for her, to make new friends, and to become more independent. She has talked about living there for two years and then moving back home for her junior/senior years. Ultimately, it will come down to money/scholarships.

 

[DawnM]

Yeah, engineering is a completely different entity. Even when I was in school, the engineering curriculum didn't have a whole lot of space for anything else, and it's only gotten worse as the engineering world has expanded. I would only encourage an engineering student to take non-related courses at a community college, like English or Drama, unless the school had a specific feeder program into a larger 4-year school.

Something to consider is, could you engineering student take a few core courses over the summers at the local cc--it might help him graduate early, or it might free up his regular schedule for some more interesting engineering classes.

On the plus side, a lot of state universities have decent engineering programs, so that could be a less-pricey option, too.

He was given the option to go to the early college high school program or finish traditional high school and he chose to finish traditional high school. I am fine with that. He wants to be a kid until 18, and he wants to participate in the plays and theater programs.

Also, since he isn't 100% sure about engineering, I am waiting for him to decide. I am trying not to push it.

But I am pushing for him to go straight to a 4 year college, because he is perfectly capable and we are willing to pay. I am even going back to work to ensure the funds.

Our local 4 year state school has a good program. I wouldn't say it is stellar, as it isn't our "flagship" Engineering school, but it has a good program.

 

[DawnM]

My siblings and I commuted, and had no issues.

My husband went to a state school, and loved it.

My oldest will be going to a Catholic college 150 miles away. It's a small school, and absolutely the right place for him.

Just a word on the state school thing: keep in mind that they're not always the cheapest, or the only relatively "affordable" (hah!) option. Take a look at financial aid as well as tuition. Private schools tend to have more flexibility as far as offering aid goes.

A great site to get you started is www.collegenavigator.gov Take a look not only at tuition, but at the percent of kids who get institutional aid, and at the average amount. You may be surprised that a lot of doors will open.

Thanks. Yes, we do know that. I had him talk to a friend last night about the college he is going to (his friend just graduated and will be going to a private school 4 hours away, and one that several of our friends' kids have gone to.) My son is a Jr. next year. He is just starting his hunt. We have an appt for him to tour our local 4 year school later this month.

 

[Aliceacc]

Also, www.collegetoolkit.com is a great place to begin your search.

 

[Lyricallie]

I stayed at home when I went to university, graduated 2 years ago, I couldn't justify moving out when my uni was closer than my senior school. I kept saying I'd move out but didn't. Although I argued with my mum occasionally we got on fairly well. She accepted that I was at Uni so my schedule was going to be different than senior school. She was happy for me to go out during the week as long as I was respectful coming home and didn't wake everyone in the house. I used to just stay at a friends if I was going on a night out. I still had chores to do as I was one of the household and I paid £180 digs (rent) to essentially cover the council tax as I was working part time.

 

[Dawnlight]

Oldest son, just graduated, will be attending community college in the fall and then transferring to a state school after 2 years. It just wasn't in the finances for him to attend the schools he got in to (despite merit/financial aid), and he doesn't want to go into debt.

It's a choice that'll be tough for all of us (including 5 siblings), but it was the best, most sound choice for him.

 

[mjkacmom]

It really depends on the child and the circumstances. Our oldest wouldn't consider staying home, she wouldn't even consider any school in our state! She chose Boston, and has been thriving there. We've moved further away, so she can no longer come home for a quick weekend, but we're all okay with that.

OTOH, DS19 didn't know what he wanted to do (still doesn't). He started at the local community college, lives at home, and commutes by bus (he doesn't have his driver's license). This works for him. He's, shall we say, slow to mature, moving away from home would have been a disaster. His CC has many good programs, and feeds into the state schools--if he goes that route, he can also commute to a branch of the 4-year state school, and still stay local. In fact, the 4-year school is slightly closer than the community college.

One thing that I've noticed, and this is purely anecdotal, but it seems like people in the Northeast are more inclined to look at CC as a "lesser" option. Maybe because there are just so many colleges in the Northeast, I don't know. But here in NC, it's just considered one decent option out of many. Also, it seems like in the South, students are more likely to stay in their home state, if not their home town, for college. When I mention my DD's studying in Boston, people think I sound so exotic. Back in NH, nobody would bat an eye at attending college in Boston. I thought Boston's reputation as being a big college town was well-known, but maybe not.

Of course CC is the lesser option. Dd's college has a 60% acceptance rate, ds's is 46%. I think CC is 100%. These colleges are lesser colleges than Ivy league colleges.