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

[QueenIsabella]

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.

Oh, please! Nobody is comparing community colleges to Ivy Leagues! 99% of kids who go to college, don't go the Ivy League route. It doesn't mean they can't get a quality education. Personally, I think the Ivies are over-rated. My DD21 goes to school in Boston, she says the only people impressed by Harvard students are Harvard students.

 

[CPanther95]

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.

That's a lot like my son's Computer Science degree. If I hadn't had 2 kids go through college and experienced some of the goofy scheduling issues and prerequisites required, I would have never thought to actually plot out with my son his schedule for his entire 4 years before he signed up for his first semester classes. It's a good thing we did, because when you factor in that some courses were only available in the Spring OR Fall - and you work back the schedule with the prerequisites required - we realized that if he didn't take one particular course in his first semester (and then another particular course in the Summer between his Freshman and Sophomore year), there was no possible way to complete his course load in only 8 semesters. Of course the counselors don't mention that - if they even knew.

He did take a few courses at the local CC for scheduling reasons, and it's real important to check not only that the credits are transferable, but that they will count towards a specific course required by your major at the 4 year University you are attending. In his 4 years, he only ended up taking a Calculus course and 2 Physics courses at the CC. There were a few other courses he considered taking - even for basic core education courses you wouldn't think would have transfer issues - and while he would get full college credit for them, they didn't transfer as a "like for like" credit for the course that was required. So you might take Biology 101 at the CC, but the University accepts it as Biology 199 and just considers it a generic Biology elective. So if Bio 101 is required to take Bio 201, you still have to take Bio 101 at the Uni. With his Major only having a measly 4 credit hours of electives, any classes not going toward a direct requirement for the major was basically just a wasted course.

 

[QueenIsabella]

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.

Are you in NC? We are, and the "early college HS" thing is new to us. DD13 would be a good candidate, but it's likely that she'll go the regular HS route, with honors/AP classes. One big drawback of the early college route was no extras. Also, I've heard that it doesn't get as much respect with out of state colleges--they'd rather see AP scores, so they can compare apples to apples.

 

[kamik86]

That's a lot like my son's Computer Science degree. If I hadn't had 2 kids go through college and experienced some of the goofy scheduling issues and prerequisites required, I would have never thought to actually plot out with my son his schedule for his entire 4 years before he signed up for his first semester classes. It's a good thing we did, because when you factor in that some courses were only available in the Spring OR Fall - and you work back the schedule with the prerequisites required - we realized that if he didn't take one particular course in his first semester (and then another particular course in the Summer between his Freshman and Sophomore year), there was no possible way to complete his course load in only 8 semesters. Of course the counselors don't mention that - if they even knew.

He did take a few courses at the local CC for scheduling reasons, and it's real important to check not only that the credits are transferable, but that they will count towards a specific course required by your major at the 4 year University you are attending. In his 4 years, he only ended up taking a Calculus course and 2 Physics courses at the CC. There were a few other courses he considered taking - even for basic core education courses you wouldn't think would have transfer issues - and while he would get full college credit for them, they didn't transfer as a "like for like" credit for the course that was required. So you might take Biology 101 at the CC, but the University accepts it as Biology 199 and just considers it a generic Biology elective. So if Bio 101 is required to take Bio 201, you still have to take Bio 101 at the Uni. With his Major only having a measly 4 credit hours of electives, any classes not going toward a direct requirement for the major was basically just a wasted course.

I actually did a full extra 6 month co-op for issues just like what you had above. I finished all my courses except 2 quarters worth (at the time my school did a quarter/trimester system depending on if you counted summer as class period - the normal school year had fall, winter, and spring classes though). However I needed senior project which you could only start in winter and finish in spring (two course set) that you had to take back to back since it was one big project that you completed with the same team. I could have taken other classes in fall and just taken a minimal load all three quarters but they I would have to pay for three quarters (tuition was the same if you took 3 classes or 4). So extra co-op it was .

Interestingly the school has now went to a normal schedule. Made things easier for many reasons. The schools breaks now line up with other school breaks (they didn't before so you would go home on breaks and all your friends would still be at school). Classes transfer nicer (calc 1 and 2 at another school translate to calc 1, 2, and 3 on a trimester system to have a full year of calc, but if you leave my school after calc 1 you don't get credit anywhere else because you didn't take of all their calc 1.)

 

[LisaR]

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.

So you're saying a community college degree isn't equivalent to Harvard or Yale?? Oh my! I thought they were exactly the same. My daughter has an AA from our community college. I usually skip that part and just tell everyone that she has been Yale educated. I always thought they were nearly identical.

 

[SirDuff]

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.

With those acceptance rates, your kids are at college that are "lesser colleges than Ivy League colleges" too (using your definition of "lesser").

 

[Aliceacc]

I went to CC for two years and got my Associate's in math.

Then I transferred to a local university. Two years later I had my Bachelors and a full time job teaching high school math.

Three years later I had my Masters and permanent certification to teach high school math. I was department chair for a while, before I took 5 years off to be home with my kids.

Thirty years later, I'm still teaching, still loving it. I've taught everything from Math 7 to Intro to Calculus to SAT prep. I tutor and do freelance writing; I've published a number of articles on education.

I'm happily married-- we celebrated our 27th two weeks ago. I have 3 wonderful kids, terrific friends, coworkers who respect me.

Yep, another abysmal Community College failure story.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

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.

I'm not disparaging community colleges. I think they're a great option.

I was asking if it's the norm for CCs NOT to require SATs or ACTs in order to attend. As far as I know, at least in my area, anyone with a HS diploma or GED is eligible to attend. No testing necessary, except for some specialized courses of study.

 

[mjkacmom]

With those acceptance rates, your kids are at college that are "lesser colleges than Ivy League colleges" too (using your definition of "lesser").

Of course they are - that was exactly my point! I was responding to a poster who said it seemed like people in the NE feel that community college education is less that a 4 year option. Of course it is, anyone can attend.

 

[DawnM]

Are you in NC? We are, and the "early college HS" thing is new to us. DD13 would be a good candidate, but it's likely that she'll go the regular HS route, with honors/AP classes. One big drawback of the early college route was no extras. Also, I've heard that it doesn't get as much respect with out of state colleges--they'd rather see AP scores, so they can compare apples to apples.

Yes, we are in NC. There are a couple different early college type programs, but both have you get an AA by the time you graduate.

By extras do you mean sports or prom or both or what?

We have friends doing it and we strongly looked into it, but ultimately decided not to.

I haven't heard about the out of state colleges viewing it differently, but I didn't ask that question.

 

[kydisneyfans]

My parents gave me the opportunity to stay home during college and commute. It was about 35-40 minutes each way and was much appreciated as they could not pay any toward my schooling, it was on my own. I also worked full time during school. It was rough but was a character builder.

Our son is a HS senior and is also going to a college about 35 minutes away-he has no desire to move to campus so his bedroom with remain his for 4 additional years. We are fronting some of the college bill but he also has significant scholarship money, along with a full time summer and part time job during school.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Yes, we are in NC. There are a couple different early college type programs, but both have you get an AA by the time you graduate.

By extras do you mean sports or prom or both or what?

We have friends doing it and we strongly looked into it, but ultimately decided not to.

I haven't heard about the out of state colleges viewing it differently, but I didn't ask that question.

Since my older two graduated before we moved, the whole NC HS thing is new to us for #3, a rising 8th grader. She's a strong student, and her two main extracurriculars are cello and dance, so those could be done outside of the HS setting. The Early College program offered here has nothing extra at all--no sports, no prom, no yearbook, etc. I've basically been asking every parent I meet, which way are they going and why. I've heard that, for the kids who go that route, HS becomes their entire focus. I'm not sure that's the right choice for my child--she could handle it, academically, but I don't think it's so terrible that she go the regular route. You know how it goes, you have to look at the whole child.

 

[DawnM]

Since my older two graduated before we moved, the whole NC HS thing is new to us for #3, a rising 8th grader. She's a strong student, and her two main extracurriculars are cello and dance, so those could be done outside of the HS setting. The Early College program offered here has nothing extra at all--no sports, no prom, no yearbook, etc. I've basically been asking every parent I meet, which way are they going and why. I've heard that, for the kids who go that route, HS becomes their entire focus. I'm not sure that's the right choice for my child--she could handle it, academically, but I don't think it's so terrible that she go the regular route. You know how it goes, you have to look at the whole child.

Right, that is what we thought too. He can academically do it, but he needs time to be a kid.

 

[NewmanFamily6]

Our oldest went to CC 1 semester and then decided to just work. The younger 3 are all going away to college. DD 15 is looking both in and out of state. The twins are both eyeing Virginia Tech in state. We will see but I would prefer they all have the full college experience and learn independence.

 

[Yoshi]

I commuted to college (I graduated less than 10 years ago) and don't regret it. My first school was a satellite campus 15 minutes away with no dorms and then I transferred to another school 2 years later, also a satellite campus. It was 7 minutes from my house and maybe a 2 or 3 minute drive from the high school I went to. It somewhat did feel like an extension of high school especially when at both campuses there were kids I went to high school with and a few were even in some of my classes but it didn't bother me.

 

[jbcheerchick93]

I lived at school all four years, it was about 1.5 hours from my house. My brother (19) also went away to school, about a 10 hour drive and lives at school.

Most of my friends lived away from home, and my freshman year roommate lived about 15 minutes from campus but lived at school all four years. It's definitely different for each child!

 

[bcla]

I'm not disparaging community colleges. I think they're a great option.

I was asking if it's the norm for CCs NOT to require SATs or ACTs in order to attend. As far as I know, at least in my area, anyone with a HS diploma or GED is eligible to attend. No testing necessary, except for some specialized courses of study.

At least in California a community college doesn't have any entrance standards other than a high school diploma or equivalent. However, you mentioned specialized fields. Getting into a nursing or broadcasting program can be really tough. Just trying to get into a science or engineering track to transfer to a four-year college may not have any particular admission standards, but the work has to be done. There's an emphasis in California to get community college graduates into the University of California and California State University systems. There were several CC transfers while I was an engineering student at UC Berkeley (and I lived close enough to bike to school from home). A coworker had graduated from UC Berkeley with an engineering degree after two years at a CC. While there may be no specific admission standards for community colleges other than HS graduation, it's not going to do that much good in many fields without transferring and completing a four-year degree. It would also require a specific course load to be eligible to apply. Simply getting an AS degree in engineering (which can be very generic) probably wouldn't be enough if the courses taken didn't meet the transfer requirements.

One stupid thing was that anyone with a four-year degree had to pay a higher fee for a few years if taken at a CC. I took a programming class at a CC while I was in grad school, and instead of paying $36 for a 3-unit course, I was paying $150. The law that imposed that fee was repealed.

 

[bcla]

I lived at school all four years, it was about 1.5 hours from my house. My brother (19) also went away to school, about a 10 hour drive and lives at school.

Most of my friends lived away from home, and my freshman year roommate lived about 15 minutes from campus but lived at school all four years. It's definitely different for each child!

I lived close enough to UC Berkeley to ride my bike to school (and it got me in pretty good shape). Quite a few of the people I knew in high school also lived at home. Strangely enough, once I was at the dorms and came across a HS classmate. She was living in the dorms even though her family was as close to the campus as mine.

The big PITA was the limited student parking around campus. There was plenty of faculty/staff and "central campus" parking, but students didn't get much parking. For several years I had a parking pass (I could get a monthly sticker or pay a daily fee that kept on increasing), but I had to get there early to find a convenient space. Occasionally I couldn't find one and searched for street parking in a residential neighborhood. One year I got a cheaper setup where I got a booklet of 25 daily parking passes. I mistakenly though I could get a new one next semester but it was for the whole year. I biked to campus nearly every day, even when it rained. Once I even rode my bike home (including uphill) after giving blood.

 

[jbcheerchick93]

I lived close enough to UC Berkeley to ride my bike to school (and it got me in pretty good shape). Quite a few of the people I knew in high school also lived at home. Strangely enough, once I was at the dorms and came across a HS classmate. She was living in the dorms even though her family was as close to the campus as mine.

The big PITA was the limited student parking around campus. There was plenty of faculty/staff and "central campus" parking, but students didn't get much parking. For several years I had a parking pass (I could get a monthly sticker or pay a daily fee that kept on increasing), but I had to get there early to find a convenient space. Occasionally I couldn't find one and searched for street parking in a residential neighborhood. One year I got a cheaper setup where I got a booklet of 25 daily parking passes. I mistakenly though I could get a new one next semester but it was for the whole year. I biked to campus nearly every day, even when it rained. Once I even rode my bike home (including uphill) after giving blood.

Parking is always the absolute WORST. The school I went to was a couple hundred years old and there was almost no parking at all near any of the academic buildings. You basically had to park a 15-20 minute walk away and take a shuttle, and parking is SO expensive. I think I paid ~ $100 for a nights and weekend pass last year, and I could only use it in select far away lots after 5pm. I wish parking was something that was more available to everyone, but a lot of the campuses are just short on space unfortunately.

 

[bcla]

Parking is always the absolute WORST. The school I went to was a couple hundred years old and there was almost no parking at all near any of the academic buildings. You basically had to park a 15-20 minute walk away and take a shuttle, and parking is SO expensive. I think I paid ~ $100 for a nights and weekend pass last year, and I could only use it in select far away lots after 5pm. I wish parking was something that was more available to everyone, but a lot of the campuses are just short on space unfortunately.

I didn't go to what most people think of as a "commuter school", although there was a sizable percentage of students who lived at home with their families. Still - with an undergraduate population of over 25,000, even 10% of those those students driving to school made things difficult when there were maybe 1000 available student parking spaces and a city with lots of meters and designated residential parking (2 hours w/o a residential permit).

I've visited commuter schools. They were typically built on the outskirts of town or with lots and lots of garages and parking lots. The community college where I took one class had a huge three level parking lot.