Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Skip to content When you start looking into degree programs , things can get confusing fast. Colleges are smaller than universities Typically, colleges have fewer students and smaller campuses. Colleges are more specialized than universities Colleges usually have a smaller selection of disciplines than universities. What is a community college?
According to the Community College Research Center , the cost of tuition and fees is almost one third that of four year institutions. A community college was the closest school to home.
Credits from a community college can usually transfer to a four-year college. The class sizes are, on average, smaller. Here are some notable statistics from the Community College Research Center : Students from low income families are almost three times as likely to start their postsecondary education at community colleges as students from high income families.
Students whose parents never graduated from college are almost twice as likely to start at community college. Almost half of all students who complete a degree at a four-year school attended a community college in the last 10 years.
What is a junior college? What is a technical college? What is a college? Want to hear a weird story that demonstrates how meaningless the difference is? Why is one of the Ivy League schools called a college?
What is a university? What is a collegiate university? Should I go to a college or a university? The decision is up to you. Good luck! Ryan has a B. If he could rewind and go to college all over again, he'd do it a little differently. For now, he's living vicariously through people like you by helping you find the best online schools for your field.
What this means for you: you can find your perfect match at either a university or a community college. Community colleges excel in serving students who might be working full-time, balancing parenting or caregiving duties, or have other competing obligations.
What this means for you: Although you can work around your schedule at both community colleges or universities, community colleges tend to be more flexible for students juggling a full-time work schedule who need to study in the evening or part-time.
Community college tuition is often a fraction of the cost of attending a state four-year university, not to mention private universities. By exploring grants, scholarship opportunities, and need-based aid, you may find that the costs are comparable. These benefits include lower costs, smaller classes and an easier application process:. When comparing the costs of community college to a university, you must look at the cost per year rather than the total cost of getting a degree.
By looking at the per-year cost, you have a better comparison between the two. If you want to go to a university, you could spend five times more for a year than you would by going to a community college. The differences may be even greater depending on the schools you compare. You will need to budget for books, technology fees, lab fees, health insurance and specific program fees. For instance, some professional programs may have extra fees to cover the costs of any tools or devices used in the course.
Community colleges often have much smaller classes, especially compared to the first two years of a university. Many four-year colleges will have lecture classes in auditoriums to accommodate the hundreds of students in attendance. However, community colleges have smaller student to teacher ratios.
At Mount Wachusett Community College, we have small class sizes with a student to teacher ratio of In fact, at The Mount, classes cannot exceed 20 students enrolled. You will take an assessment test after the community college admits you. This assessment determines which level of courses you can enroll in. You can still get into community college and focus on getting the best grades possible.
Check with the school you want to transfer to for more specific details. Another benefit of community college is the low or no application fee. The Mount does not charge its prospective students to apply. The convenient online application only takes 10 minutes to complete.
However, many schools charge more. These fees are non-refundable, even if the school does not accept you. Plus, you will have to write essays, send in recommendation letters, submit SAT or ACT scores and your high school transcripts for each application.
The process can take hours per school you apply to. Despite the lower costs, smaller class sizes and easier admissions, community colleges may not offer all the same amenities that four-year universities do. These cons of community college may affect your decision, depending on what you plan to do during your college years:.
If you played sports in high school and want to continue to do so in college, you may want to consider a four-year university. For highly skilled players, sports-based scholarships could help you afford your education. Many of the general education classes have similar curriculum to community colleges.
But you will be attending plenty of crowded lectures-some containing more than students-that are often taught by graduate students. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but it is a definite trend in universities. Things get better when you enter your major, but general classes tend to be less intimate and engaging. Public and private universities are much more expensive, lately the rise in tuition has outpaced average inflation by a wide margin.
It's even higher at private universities. Across the board, community college is much more affordable. The average tuition is half that of a public university. Part of this is because community colleges are stripped down, avoiding things like big campus infrastructure and extracurricular programs that increase the overhead at large universities. Books and food still cost as much, but many community college students save money by living at home. Other than this, there won't be a huge difference in your living expenses.
But as the cost of tuition keeps rising around the country, more and more people are turning to community college to save money on their first two years of college. Flexibility is another huge advantage of community colleges, which are typically designed to cater to students who have jobs or families of their own.
The fact that students commute to class, rather than live on campus, also makes it necessary to have built-in flexibility. If you are raising children or work more than a part-time job, then community college is far and away the best option for you. The flexibility of the schedule cannot be found in traditional schools.
Community colleges offer many more night classes and, unlike most universities, class attendance is not a requirement. Your level of participation and what you get out of it are up to you. This is one area where large universities will always have community colleges beat. You won't find nearly as much of this culture at community colleges, and certainly no fraternities or sororities.
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