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Let's be honest, the workload in a community college is not as stressful or as much as a four year university. I know folks who got good grades at the CC level, but dropped once they hit the four year and i wonder why is that?
is the course work at a 4 year so much more even if they are about the same length in time? i'm speaking relatively classes one could find within both places, like english/lit, history or math/psychology.
And after unhelpfully hi-jacking a thread about community colleges myself, I'll post the OP here so we can all get back on track.
Tell that to my friend who was denied merit aid due to her family's finances. Tell that to my aunt who spent 30 years working in the financial aid office of a state university. It's a combination of the two. You are more likely to get need based aid without grades though. Merit aid can get nixed if it's determined you don't need it.
There are some scholarships that are based on both merit and need but at a typical private college merit based aid is awarded before a student even applies for financial aid. Typically you apply to a school and when they accept you they may award you a scholarship based on your academic performance. After you are accepted you apply for financial aid. If your EFC (expected family contribution) is lower than the cost of attendance, less any academic scholarships, you may be awarded additional need based financial aid.
We never applied for financial aid but our son was awarded an academic scholarship. There are some academic scholarships that are awarded based on a combination of need/merit but those are usually competitive scholarships that require a separate application. Many colleges (maybe most) award strictly merit based aid when you apply, which is before you apply for financial aid.
I don't think that a typical student will receive merit based aid that makes a private college less than community college. But I do think that in states where state Us are expensive (like Michigan) the difference between private/state U might not be as large as you think
And after unhelpfully hi-jacking a thread about community colleges myself, I'll post the OP here so we can all get back on track.
Honestly, the cost discussion is important even though it got a bit derailed.
For students who will qualify for financial aid it is sometimes better to go directly to a 4 year university. Most universities (state or private) give the best financial aid packages to incoming freshmen. Often transfer students do not get much in the way of financial aid. Students who are planning to live at home for all 4 years might benefit financially by going straight to the state U if they get 4 years of financial aid.
I think that students should consider applying to both the CC and State U to see which winds up costing less over all four years.
EFC is driven more by income than assets. There is an asset component but the real driver is income.
You can have $2M in retirement and still have an EFC of zero. You can also own a $2M home that is paid for and your EFC can still be zero. The financial aid rules are squirly. You can have a high net worth and get 100% financial aid if you have a bad year or two. Meanwhile the guy scraping by at $60K a year will get squat.
I think for the type of student CCs usually cater to (not particularly high achieving in HS), they offer a good deal. For higher achievers, however, usually four year schools will offer the better deal.
Our local community college will cost $5000 a year with a full load of classes. I can't imagine any state or private university being cheaper than that. And all the cc in our state guarantee that their classes will transfer over to any state school except certain programs in two of the state Us and they warn you about that ahead of time. Thanks for the interesting viewpoints and tips here.
Our local community college will cost $5000 a year with a full load of classes. I can't imagine any state or private university being cheaper than that. And all the cc in our state guarantee that their classes will transfer over to any state school except certain programs in two of the state Us and they warn you about that ahead of time. Thanks for the interesting viewpoints and tips here.
Community college - 1 year for my d, tuition & mandatory fees, books (used fall costs x 2) & parking fee - $1,840. If we just include tuition, as you did, it's $1,104 for the year.
Community college - 1 year for my d, tuition & mandatory fees, books (used fall costs x 2) & parking fee - $1,840. If we just include tuition, as you did, it's $1,104 for the year.
Well Twins. The only person that can beat those numbers were GG's kids.
But see Tuition & Fees . It's $4987 per year at our local CC. BYU is only a few bucks more.
The college that is impossible to beat is my sons deal. Tuition, books, medical, dental, clothes, etc for - (minus) $12K a year. In other words, he gets about $1000 pay check per month x 12 x 4 years. He goes to a Service Academy. His plan is to go to med school. Again during timeline he gets free tuition, books, medical, dental plus around $3K a month to cover his expenses.
Re: the BYU. Years ago, I showed that BYU tuition rates to my daughter. I explained she just needed to convert to a LDS and get some incredibly inexpensive tuition. I got a pretty strange look. She paid $4K for tuition after scholarships at the UofMN Duluth campus so it was about the same as BYU. But living on campus is what racks up the bills. But we thought it was worth it considering how inexpensive tuition was for our DD.
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Tell that to my aunt who spent 30 years working in the financial aid office of a state university. 
I got a pretty strange look. She paid $4K for tuition after scholarships at the UofMN Duluth campus so it was about the same as BYU. But living on campus is what racks up the bills. But we thought it was worth it considering how inexpensive tuition was for our DD. 
