Uc
Community College Could be a Disaster (Getting In)
A more and more common practice these days seems to suggest students go to community college as the first stepping stone toward a four year degree. Common reasons behind this include a money savings, less of a “culture shock,” and a school is likely closer to home. However in California a closer look has been taken at how many students actually transfer to four year schools from community college and the news is not good. A report was recently released to these ends.
There are a number of obstacles that plague students in community colleges seeking to go to four year colleges from day one. Perhaps the most obnoxious is that of course requirements: the course requirements for an associates degree at a community college may not mimic those to get into those of your dream four-year school—so what do you do? Many students try and do both. Unfortunately that’ll take you right off of the four-year plan—that can cost you money (and if you were just planning on transferring to a public four-year school, you end up costing you more in the long run anyway).
Behind the problem of meeting course requirements is counseling. Not every community college counselor is an expert in building the perfect transfer curriculum for a student wanting to go to a specific four-year school. Because a counselor is an expert in the requirements for Cal Poly Pomona doesn’t mean they know what’ll get you into Cal State Long Beach—even though they’re in the same system! This has nothing to do with the will and desires of the counselor at the community college, but a lack of coordination amongst the state’s 4-year colleges.
The problem really becomes most obvious in students at community colleges, but from reading the study it is evident that the problem has less to do with the students and more to do with the entire education system in California. The system in California is intended to catch students that are bright but may not have the strongest backgrounds for college due to a family or financial background, the problem is that from there the government system is letting students down. Indeed it seems that if state government would let students excel on their own and not push them into community college they may find themselves doing better in 4-year schools.
But then again, maybe I’m way off, you can check out the report for yourself here.
Tags: getting in, community college, california, transferring, california state university, uc, csu, california community colleges, csus, first generation college students