By Joseph Garay
Jake Barber and Regina Flanders work at a local elementary school They provide before and after-school supervision to children each day or until their parents pick them up. While maintaining their jobs during the day, they also take classes at Germanna Community College.
For Flanders and Barber, the decision about whether to attend a four-year college immediately or going to a two- year community college was a no-brainer. Both wanted to avoid the cost of a four-year school and also wanted to continue to live at home, avoiding the burden of rent.
Most students attending community college with the goal of going to a four year institution at some point down the road. Barber and Flanders both acknowledged their hope that by attending community college they would be able to attend any four-year institution that they wished.
“I didn’t want to stress over the applications” Flanders said.
Flanders, who is about to embark on her path of higher learning by attending community college in the Spring semester, had taken a short break from education due to the effect of stress that she noticed was hindering her senior year of high school.
“I knew community college would be there when I decided to return,” she said. For her, community college offers a testing ground to see what type of workload she can handle and what types of classes she enjoys taking.
Both Flanders and Barber pointed out mostly positives of attending community college. Others include: flexible scheduling, small class sizes and positive experiences with professors.
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Last year, President Barack Obama announced an initiative to guarantee community college for every student in the United States. This initiative comes from the growing number of employers requiring their employees to have at least their associate degree. It is expected that jobs requiring this level of education will grow twice as fast in the upcoming years.
According to the White House website: “President Obama has set the goal that by the year 2020 America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world and community colleges will produce 5 million graduates.” In order to achieve the goal President Obama has proposed a plan that will make the first two years of community college at any of the 1,100 community colleges in the United States free. This proposed plan would cost $60 billion over 10 years, saving the 9 million eligible students $3,800 in tuition costs.
While that proposed plan was supported by many equal-opportunity advocates, it was also derided by those who say that community college isn’t the jumping off point for four-year schools that people make it out to be. They also arguing that, despite the already cheap tuition costs, graduation rates for community college are still decreasing, and that community students are the most likely to default on their loans.
On the other hand, four year colleges are extremely expensive. According to credit bureau Experian, 40 million Americans now have student loans, which is up from 29 million in 2008. And despite the improving economy, it is still tough for recent graduates to find jobs, with 4 out 5 students without a job when they graduate, meaning graduates are forced to hold low paying jobs while searching the jobs they want.
As a senior at the University of Mary Washington, I have often looked back and wondered whether I made the right choice by going straight into a four-year institution. When I was in high school, I always assumed that once I graduated, I’d be stuffing my belongings into bins and bags and preparing to move away in my parents’ minivan. I wondered if I could have saved my parents some money and also experienced the comforts of home for a time longer. So I decided to look into this debate to answer once and for all: Are four-year universities worth it?
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Many students might believe that by going to community college they would be putting themselves on the wrong track for what they want in life. Jake Barber, however, says that he isn’t worried about getting off on the wrong track. Community college has worked for him. He is also confident that with good grades he will be able to attend the college of his choice once he receives his associate’s degree.
Many community college classes are not as strict as four- year institutions when it comes to attendance. Due to lower tuition prices and lax attendance policies, students might not take classes seriously and only show up to a handful of classes. While community colleges provide a great and affordable place for students to explore their academic interests and figure out their futures, this can also present a trap. Students might be attending classes with no aspiration to achieve more. Often these students don’t take their studies seriously and hinder the progress of other students in the class. Students who lack the drive to complete their studies often contribute to the increasing dropout rates of community colleges.
According to a study conducted by the National Student Clearing house, “The total completion rate for two-year starters, regardless of whether the completion occurred at a two-year or four-year institution, declined by 0.7 percentage points, from 39.8 percent to 39.1 percent. Moreover, the total completion rate at four-year institutions for students who started at two-year institutions dropped by one percentage point.”
As it is, success for students who transfer from a two-year college, has been found to be harder to obtain. A study conducted in 2009, in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, indicates that students are 14.5% less likely to achieve their bachelor’s degree in the same amount of time as students who went directly to a four year institution. Many students and researchers point to the significant change in school environment.
Many students also believe the quality of professors employed at community colleges to be below par, Barber believes otherwise: “I believe that my professors are just as qualified as those found at four-year colleges.
In more recent years the quality and quantity of qualified professors has significantly increased. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the job market has become so competitive that more doctoral students are taking teaching positions at the local community college, which offers roughly 40 percent of the teaching positions in the United States. Also, according to the American Association of Community Colleges website, approximately 71 percent of full-time professors and 46 percent of part-time professors have obtained their masters—suggesting a higher amount of qualified professors than is commonly expected.
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One of the most obvious reasons that many in-coming freshmen opt to attend community college before transferring into a four-year college – is due to the rising costs. The University of Mary Washington, which in comparison to many colleges in Virginia is a bargain, is still rather pricey for students who may be financially challenged.
College rates everywhere have been on the rise. According to College Board the average price for tuition and room and board for a four- year public institution has increased from $7,362 in the 1980s to roughly $19,000 a semester in 2015.
The tuition rates at The University of Mary Washington, in particular, have increased by approximately 4 percent for the 2014-15 school year. The yearly average tuition, for this particular school comes out to be around $20,000 for in-states students’ and approximately $32,000 for out- of- state students.
In comparison, the local community college, Germana, costs approximately $2,000 for 13-14 credits. The lowered prices on education are certainly a positive, allowing students to prepare themselves and save up for when they eventually decide to transfer to a four- year college.
While the cost to attend a community college is significantly lower than that of a four year college, class sizes are still small. On average, class sizes at community colleges range from 25 to 30 students per class. This allows students and teachers to have a closer working relationship, also allowing teachers to devote more time to individual students.
In four- year institutions, the average class size for freshmen and sophomores is typically larger, with students clamoring to fulfill general education requirements. Small class sizes don’t usually occur until students reach Upper level courses. So, why not forego the crowded impersonal general education classes by fulfilling those credits in a cheaper setting, while remaining close to home.
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Emily Hollingsworth attended Germana Community College after being homeschooled from kindergarten all the way to her senior year of high school, using the American School of Correspondence to obtain her diploma. Instead of going right into a four- year institution, she decided to attend community college first.
“It was definitely the right move for me,” Hollingsworth said. “When you go to college directly from high school, they put emphasis on standardized tests, but if you go through community college and then apply to a four-year institution they will not look so hard at your test scores.”
Hollingsworth, who transferred to the University of Mary Washington, says “looking back I realize that the professors at the community college did a good job teaching.” While community colleges are more affordable they still have small class sizes. However, within these small class sizes is a very diverse population of students. The student population consists of people who are at different places in their life, like adults with families, high school students enrolling in college level courses in addition to working towards their high school diplomas, and young adults who had taken a break from learning. Of the professors, “They did a good job of helping everyone,” Hollingsworth said. “They especially did a good job helping and accommodating those students who were at different places in their lives and, as a result, struggled to keep up with the curriculum.”
However, she did note that there were some negative experiences with community college professors. According to Hollingsworth, there appeared to be a shortage of professors in certain areas: “I know for Spanish there was only one professor who taught all the introductory and more advanced courses.” This stressful workload probably contributed to the way this professor treated his students because he “treated students horribly.”
In addition to the shortage of professors, Hollingsworth also mentions the lack of more advanced classes at community colleges. Community colleges typically consist of a two-year education. While students have increased accessibility to their professors, these colleges usually only offer two years’ worth of courses. Meaning that course offerings are very limited. Accordingly, classes specifically created to examine writers like Tennessee Williams’ or poetry classes, which are a mainstay of the liberal arts curriculum of Mary Washington, are not offered.
“They usually only offer introductory courses with few to no upper level courses. I was also disappointed that they didn’t offer any journalism classes,” said Hollingsworth, also adding that “the workload in some classes was easy, in some classes, however, the workload was just as intense as the four-year institution.” Despite the easy work load in some classes and the accommodations made to certain students, there are some who struggle to attend their classes throughout the semester.
“Lack of attendance can also be attributed to the busy schedules that these students have,” said Hollingsworth, also adding that the community colleges have created “hybrid classes where you can take part of the semester in class and part online” making it easier for students with those difficult to navigate schedules.
Hollingsworth also found the lack of clubs and activities to be disappointing. “Germana didn’t have extracurricular activities, activities that would have benn helpful on resumes in order to advance careers.” While two-year colleges do have clubs and organizations, they are usually small. Campus life is basically non-existent. This due to the fact that most students work for large portions of the day and only attend classes when they have time to spare, which is usually at night.
Hollingsworth also found that “students who go to community college typically stay in touch with pre-existing networks of friends in their home towns.” This means that networks of friends are not established at school in the way they are at four-year universities, where students are living with a multitude of people 24 hours a day.
“We kind of made our own little clubs. I know my friend, who still goes there, started a band. I also sat across from this group of boys, before class began, who would always be playing the game ‘Magic’,” said Hollingsworth.
In the end, as many transfer students will tell you, no matter where you start, if you work hard, you have an equal opportunity of succeeding and achieving your Bachelor’s degree as anyone else.
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It’s certainly possible to go to a community college, obtain an associate degree, enter a four-year program and have a successful career at the end of this process. At the same time there are many negative factors working against you: You don’t live on a campus that provides extracurricular activities to put on your resume and it’s hard to make new friends.
Looking back on my decision to attend a four-year college I can say that I don’t regret the decision I made. Yes, it would have been nice to save money, but attending a four-year college was the best choice for me, because it allowed me to have a life separate from my family and provides me with a chance to make new close friends daily, since I live on campus.
While some citizens of the United States criticize President Obama’s proposed free public education plan, it provides a path to the financially challenged that was not an option before. With the establishment of free public college education many more Americans will have the increased ability to obtain their bachelor’s degree, only having to pay for two years of college after earning their associate degree.
But still when it comes to choosing between that new option and a four-year school, it still remains a highly personal choice.