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My two children went to the flagstaff University in two different states. In both cases they needed to "start their sequence" of required courses in their major as first or second semester freshman. These courses were not offered at community colleges and if they would have taken two years elsewhere it is likely to have set back their graduation one full year if not a year and a half.
Of course, this depends on your major but you can't just assume that your courses will transfer. I personally know several people who started internships in their major (engineering) after their freshman year in college. That would not have been possible if they were taking classes at a community college and had not started in their major on time.
I can't emphasize this enough. Just because the CC will transfer in doesn't mean they will meet the prereqs for any particular degree program. People really need to look at the program and college they want to be sure. Often the 2 + 2 really turns into 2 + 3 because they don't get the right sequence in CC.
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Originally Posted by HighFlyingBird
Wow that is too bad. It isn't how it worked when I went to college (or my dad!). Once you got your Associates you waltzed into a 4 year and all my credits transferred. I know it has to be able to be done, I guess you would just have to be careful. Maybe its a way to make sure kids now don't have that option? It was so common when I went to college, most of my friends did it that way and I never heard of anyone having any major snags..
The problem isn't whether they transfer, but are the applicable to the program. CC's often meet gen ed requirements but not those for specific majors, esp STEM. We looked into this for DD when she started college and once we laid out the course sequence for her major, we found the CC didn't fit the prereq sequence. CC didn't even offer some of the courses she needed by end of sophomore year to be in place for junior year classes. She would have had a bunch of credits, but they would have been useless toward her degree. Just excess credits in courses that didn't matter.
I can't emphasize this enough. Just because the CC will transfer in doesn't mean they will meet the prereqs for any particular degree program. People really need to look at the program and college they want to be sure. Often the 2 + 2 really turns into 2 + 3 because they don't get the right sequence in CC.
The problem isn't whether they transfer, but are the applicable to the program. CC's often meet gen ed requirements but not those for specific majors, esp STEM. We looked into this for DD when she started college and once we laid out the course sequence for her major, we found the CC didn't fit the prereq sequence. CC didn't even offer some of the courses she needed by end of sophomore year to be in place for junior year classes. She would have had a bunch of credits, but they would have been useless toward her degree. Just excess credits in courses that didn't matter.
This is something that should be researched beforehand. In a lot of cases, actually earning the 2-year degree does not necessarily make sense. However, if the student knows which school he/she wants to go to (and can realistically get into) and which program he/she is interested in, the internet and school advisers can help a lot at a community college.
My community college had a list of comparable courses and could help with such matters. In some cases, it does not make sense to take the extra credit hours required for the two-year degree. That said, many courses will transfer. You just have to do your research. You don't necessarily have to (and shouldn't always) earn the degree, but knocking out 50ish credit hours at discounted community college rates isn't something to sneeze at. This is also a good option for students who may not have done that well in high school; by scoring good grades in college, they may be able to get accepted to a school that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to get into.
If nothing else, students can knock out the first year of basic English, etc. classes.
My parents were adult immigrants that came from ignorant, backward peasant stock. They were clueless about college and it was never mentioned while I was growing up. I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school. After I got out, between the GI Bill, working and two small student loans I put myself through four years of college without any help from my parents. Does that make them bad parents? No, they were a product of their environment and just didn't know any better.
My parents did what they could and I'm very grateful for it. On those days when you just didn't feel like trudging to a class that you had to take but had little appeal, it helped serve as a motivator both the future cost that class was going to cost me and the current expense to my parents who do not have a whole lot.
I've put away some for my young kids, but life flares up every now and then and I haven't been able to save as much as I could. We will do what we can though and I hope it will be enough to position my kids where they don't start out with the debt load.
We have friends who had parents who were a little bit better off who helped out with school and some of the early career expenses and it's amazing the difference when your paycheck goes to you
My understanding is that in the US today, if your parents CAN afford to help pay for college (as determined by the government according to information provided on the FAFSA), then that will be taken into account when determining how much financial aid you qualify for, until you are age 24.
"Students who are unmarried and younger than 24 are categorized as Dependent Students, and the parents' income and assets are used in determining the EFC. Even if the parents have no intention of helping pay the student's college expenses, which legally they are not required to do, the student remains dependent and the parents' income and assets are used in determining the EFC and through it, the student's financial aid award. Put differently, if the parents are able but unwilling to help pay for the student's college, financial aid will not be increased because of it. This was determined by the United States Congress." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expe...y_Contribution
So if you can afford to save for college and you don't, you are giving your child a disadvantage. Other children with poor parents will qualify for more financial aid than your child. This financial aid includes both grants and federal student loans. In other words, if you are wealthy but refuse to pay anything, you can make it difficult to impossible for your child to attempt to pay their own way through grants and loans until they are 24.
I have a friend who could not go to college until she was 24 for exactly this reason. Her parents are wealthy but "disowned" her because of her sexual preferences. She qualified for no student aid whatsoever, even though she was kicked out of the house and homeless the day she turned 18.
So basically congress is saying "well if the parents won't pay for it, neither will we". So yeah, I think if you *can* afford to save and you don't, then you are being a bad parent. Because of how student aid works now. But if you can't afford to save, then you're good.
Great post. I am shocked that almost no one else on the thread took this into account.
If you can afford to and don't, what is the child supposed to do considering that they will not qualify for aid?
Why was it on those parents to to spend the money that they earned on their children's education? Why aren't they entitled to spend the money they worked for on themselves? The kids also reaped the rewards in nice houses, cars, clothes, eating out, vacations, etc.
Exactly how do nice houses, cars, clothes, meals, vacations help a kid become self sufficient as an adult? These kids were taught by their parents to value stuff and that education was unimportant. They were never held accountable for their academics. After all, what does that exam matter when we're going skiing in Zermatt?
And as another poster pointed out, the kids qualify for little to no aid based on their parents income. Since the parents weren't about to pay since it'd cut down on their lifestyles, none of them went to college. Now the parents complain about their mooching, lazy, uneducated kids. You reap what you sow.
I have no plans to save or pay for my children's education, as we have two GI Bills to pass along to them. If they need more money than that, they'll figure it out.
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