Report: Community College May Not Lower Price of Degree
Knocking out the first two years of a four-year degree at a community college is a popular way for students to try to keep the price of higher education manageable. But a new report has found that students who opt for that route tend to borrow as often and as much as their counterparts who start off at a four-year university.
The report, “A Brief Look at Transfer Students and Financial Aid,” was put together by TG, a nonprofit corporation established by the Legislature in 1979 to provide Texas students and families with information and services to help with the ...
Comments (3)
Dormand Long
I suggest that focusing on the amount of student loan debt burden between the two alternatives is ignoring the big picture.
What is critical is that we implement everything practical for those with undeveloped potential to learn those essential skills needed to survive and thrive in college, particularly learning how to develop and write a cogent, informative and persuasive paper.
The emphasis on the TAKS standardized testing in Texas is perhaps the most misguided public policy ever for the state. One of the key aspects of learning tossed out the window was the essential learning how to develop and write a paper, perhaps the most essential skill required at the most selective colleges.
Our public schools have failed to properly prepare a critical mass of our future leaders for the rigors of college. Thus many who could solve many problems for society fall on their faces when they get to college where one lives or dies depending upon their ability to write a cogent paper.
Many community colleges do a commendable job of teaching students what they should have been taught in secondary schools. If one looks at the track record of success stories at Richland College and at Collin College of getting promising students on track for success, it is an incredible human capital development victory.
The amount of burden of student debt variance between the two routes is an absolutely moot point.
What is critical is that we have effective members of society properly trained to critically think, properly analyze, and effectively communicate to others the challenges and alternative solutions to the many problems facing society.
A key problem in our society is that we have far too many people who have the latent ability to solve pressing societal problems or healing the sick being relegated to dead-end jobs solely due to the failure of our secondary schools to prepare them for the rigors of college.
I would encourage you to take the time to read the elegant white paper "The College Payoff Illusion" by the Director of Research at The Hudson Institute, Edwin Rubinstein, which captured the root causes of our college graduate being incapable of helping their organization be competitive to foreign organizations having well educated human capital.
Reda Cavender
I started my college education at Richland College, a campus of Dallas County Community College District. I graduated with an Associate of Arts & Sciences undergraduate degree in 1996. I worked the entire time full time and went to Richland part time. It took me 4 years to get through two years at Richland. I am proud to say that I paid my own way, no loans, no scholarships, just my paycheck.
I transferred to University of Texas at Dallas in 1996 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in psychology, minoring in criminal justice. It also took me 4 years to get through two years at UTD. I am also proud to say that I paid my own way at UTD myself, no loans, no scholarships, working full time and going to school part time.
I graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2000. The day before my 55th birthday. I did it my way. I did it because I wanted to prove that I could do it. And no one can say that they can't do something unless they have tried their own 100% effort. If I can do it, anybody can do anything.
Bethany Babcock
This article's title is highly misleading. The reality is that many community college students do not use loans as the classes are nearly $1,000 cheaper than their university counterparts. To make such a broad statement and apply to the entire process based on such a small group of students is irresponsible. Many of the students who chose to take loans instead of working (as most do) are also the same students taking unnecessary classes and changing majors which is the more likely cause of higher student loan amounts. It has nothing to do with the cost of the community college.
My husband and I both graduated with both our bachelors degrees and our MBA's with no loans between us using a combination of CLEP tests, Community College, and sticking with degree plans at the 4 year university. Between us, community college saved our family more than $45,000.