Entering my senior year of high school, I was excited about finally reaching the point where I would get to apply to colleges and decide what I wanted to do in life. However, after I started researching the 4-year universities I wanted to pursue, I was conflicted.
The idea of leaving Salinas for a little while to pursue my postgraduate education sounded appealing, but the reality was that it wouldn’t be the best option for me to take just yet. The cost for most, if not all, universities was out of my current budget. Tuition alone for any four-year university is extremely high right now, and to top that off with housing costs, it would make it a lot more expensive.
Of course, seeing this information I was a little bummed out, but when I thought about my options I found this to be a blessing in disguise. Choosing not to go to a four-year school led me to pursue community college, which, in my opinion, is the better option, and I encourage others in the same boat as me to pursue it.
One of the main reasons that persuaded me in my decision to go to community college was its affordability. Many of the community colleges in California have promise programs that grant students two tuition-free years. On top of that, those promise programs give students the option to choose if they would like to be given a school-provided laptop, or a textbook voucher. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that? The average cost to attend Universities of California (UCs) is $42,236, and the average cost to attend California State Universities (CSUs) is roughly $38,000. That includes textbooks, housing, and all the other costs of attending a four-year institution.
When attending community colleges, there is very little you have to pay for if you are able to participate in the Promise Program. Tuition being out of the picture for the first two years, the main things you would have to pay for are your class materials (pencils, pens, notebooks, etc.) and your basic day-to-day necessities like food and transportation.
The first two years for any college student are primarily focused on general education, meaning English, math, history, and science classes. It isn’t up until your junior year in college that you start taking classes and learning the curriculum for your intended major. With those two free years at a community college, you could complete your basic education, saving yourself nearly $42,000, and transfer to a four-year institution to do the remainder. Many community colleges have programs you can join that make it easy to transfer. A program Hartnell College offers is TAG, a transfer admission program that guarantees students admission to the university they decide to attend. The whole process is very easy as it consists of a signed contract between both the student and the university that guarantees your admission if you follow the criteria/ guidelines the university sets for you.
Your credits to a four-year. One of those programs is TAG (Transfer Admission Guarantee), which offers students guaranteed admission to numerous universities by signing a contract with said university and following the guidelines/ criteria made by the university.
Choosing to go to community college also saves you a lot of money in the housing aspect. When attending community college, students often continue to stay at home with their parents/ guardians and are more likely to live rent-free. However, even if you were to be charged rent by your parents or guardians, I guarantee that it would be less than what a four-year university would charge you. Attending a UC like UC Berkeley, for example, you would be paying close to $18,000 in on-campus housing alone, depending on the plan. Community college saves you from spending that much.
On top of the financial benefits of attending a community college, there are ways it benefits your learning. The class sizes at a community college are typically much smaller than classes at your average four-year institution. The student-to-staff ratio at a community college is close to 24:1, while the student-to-staff ratio at a four-year institution is roughly around 28:1. Smaller classes give students more room to learn as they’re more likely to have hands-on learning experiences and more time conversing with professors and peers.
In the long run, attending a community college would benefit you in ways that going straight to a four-year wouldn’t. You would save your wallet in many ways and receive the same education as many four-year institutions offer in the first two years. With all of this in mind, I have personally chosen to attend Hartnell College to complete my general ed, and later transfer to San Jose State University to further my education.
