Would you send your child to Nova (community college)

[Anonymous]

Look - there are a lot of low SES people and low performers at community colleges. I'm taking a class at one right now. There might be a couple of higher performers in every class, but particularly for the classes that fulfill distribution requirements, think of an easy high school class, definitely not AP level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve saved so they can do 4 years at UVA/WM or VT, and have a full four year college experience.

But if they would have to take on debt to attend for four years, or were only accepted the the 3rd tier VA state colleges, sure. I think a four year college experience is ideal. But sometimes ideal isn’t an option. If it doesn’t work out, I would rather them NOVA to direct admit and get a UVA degree, rather than a 4 year Longwood degree. And rather then do 2 years of UVA or WM debt free than than 4 years with a lot of debt.

I think we will see more and more kids go this route, rather as even top students are getting shut out of UVA/VT/WM.

Way to work in VT there. Well done.

[Anonymous]

If you can go the nova route and get the guaranteed admit to UVA (and it’s not really a heavy lift), then, yes, that’s a tremendous win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve saved so they can do 4 years at UVA/WM or VT, and have a full four year college experience.

But if they would have to take on debt to attend for four years, or were only accepted the the 3rd tier VA state colleges, sure. I think a four year college experience is ideal. But sometimes ideal isn’t an option. If it doesn’t work out, I would rather them NOVA to direct admit and get a UVA degree, rather than a 4 year Longwood degree. And rather then do 2 years of UVA or WM debt free than than 4 years with a lot of debt.

I think we will see more and more kids go this route, rather as even top students are getting shut out of UVA/VT/WM.

Way to work in VT there. Well done.

You don’t think great students are being shut out of admission to VT engineering? Maybe those students should consider guaranteed admissions from NOVA.

https://vt.edu/content/dam/vt_edu/admissions/forms/archive/2014/engineeringarticulationagreement.pdf

But year, I can see how VT engineering is somehow second rate.

[Anonymous]

I would have but DC took a science course there as a rising senior in high school. The teaching was horrendous. The teacher clearly didn't even want to be at the class and often cancelled lab. After that experience, I'm saying no to the Fairfax campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve saved so they can do 4 years at UVA/WM or VT, and have a full four year college experience.

But if they would have to take on debt to attend for four years, or were only accepted the the 3rd tier VA state colleges, sure. I think a four year college experience is ideal. But sometimes ideal isn’t an option. If it doesn’t work out, I would rather them NOVA to direct admit and get a UVA degree, rather than a 4 year Longwood degree. And rather then do 2 years of UVA or WM debt free than than 4 years with a lot of debt.

I think we will see more and more kids go this route, rather as even top students are getting shut out of UVA/VT/WM.

I think that going to nova and missing dorms and college away would be misery. There is more to college than classes. The social life, connections and growing up away from home are very important. If someone went to nova for two years and then transfers to UVA they will be isolated and find the social life difficult. UVA is almost as difficult an adjustment and depressing as WM. Check the suicide rates. I think the Nova transfer saves money but cost the students a lot in other ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve saved so they can do 4 years at UVA/WM or VT, and have a full four year college experience.

But if they would have to take on debt to attend for four years, or were only accepted the the 3rd tier VA state colleges, sure. I think a four year college experience is ideal. But sometimes ideal isn’t an option. If it doesn’t work out, I would rather them NOVA to direct admit and get a UVA degree, rather than a 4 year Longwood degree. And rather then do 2 years of UVA or WM debt free than than 4 years with a lot of debt.

I think we will see more and more kids go this route, rather as even top students are getting shut out of UVA/VT/WM.

Way to work in VT there. Well done.

You don’t think great students are being shut out of admission to VT engineering? Maybe those students should consider guaranteed admissions from NOVA.

https://vt.edu/content/dam/vt_edu/admissions/forms/archive/2014/engineeringarticulationagreement.pdf

But year, I can see how VT engineering is somehow second rate.

I don't think nova would prepare a student for an engineering program anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Not Op, but thanks to poster 1:03 whose child had recent experience with cc classes. Are there stats available to see the success rate of CC students at VA colleges? Will all credits transfer? Are students prepared for actual college classes? I live in another state and CC classes can be lowere level and not all classes transfer ( wasted money).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have but DC took a science course there as a rising senior in high school. The teaching was horrendous. The teacher clearly didn't even want to be at the class and often cancelled lab. After that experience, I'm saying no to the Fairfax campus.

After one class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only if there was an extremely high likelihood of making the cut on a 2-to-4 direct admission program. Unfortunately, like it or not, having a community college on one's record can slam doors closed, hard and fast.

But if you tok a class at Nova CC will that be indicated on your, let's say UVA, transcript - that the class was taken at NOVA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only if there was an extremely high likelihood of making the cut on a 2-to-4 direct admission program. Unfortunately, like it or not, having a community college on one's record can slam doors closed, hard and fast.

This is so old fashioned thinking. If one goes to a community college and then transfers to a four year university how will the cc hurt my kid's job prospects? They only ask where you graduated not where you went!

But, keep thinking like that because the smart people know how to get a good education and save lots of money!

Yes, but I’d be worried about who my kid would be meeting there and socializing with for those two years. Our friends kids met some sketchy people at CC, someone supplied him with some opioids and that was that - no more son. There’s a much higher percentage of people who aren’t serious about school or anything productive at the CC. Kid could pair off with someone from CC and never make it to the 4 year college too. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

I looked into the guaranteed admission program. It's more complicated than you think. Anything less than a B in many classes means you don't qualify for the guaranteed admission program. You would have to be very intentional and strategic in knowing which 4-yr degree you want so that you pick the right CC classes to get credit.

Still, I was interested for my kids. However, the statistics on the percentage of kids who start at CC and eventually get a 4 yr degree are not good. I think it's something like 15% actually get the 4 yr degree. That might be your kid, or it might not. I think the social "pressure" to stay on a path to a 4 yr degree is missing. And that probably translates into less career-oriented summer plans (jobs/internships).

In theory it seems like a good plan, and I'm glad it is an option since my oldest is not a very strong student. But, after reading up on it, I concluded that on the whole, it would be better for my child to go to a less competitive 4 yr college than try to do the 2+2 guaranteed admissions program. If your child is quite motivated and is focussed on using the guaranteed admission program to get the 4 yr degree at the least cost, then I think it can work well.... but that assumes a pretty mature and focussed child -- who probably wouldn't be left with CC as the only option anyway.

Since we have enough $ to pay for a less competitive state school, I think the overall "4 yr college" environment is probably better for a kid who isn't at the top of the class.

Now, if my child fails out of a 4 yr college, CC would be a good back up. So, I'm glad CC is an option ... but all things considered, it's not the best for encouraging maturity and career effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve saved so they can do 4 years at UVA/WM or VT, and have a full four year college experience.

But if they would have to take on debt to attend for four years, or were only accepted the the 3rd tier VA state colleges, sure. I think a four year college experience is ideal. But sometimes ideal isn’t an option. If it doesn’t work out, I would rather them NOVA to direct admit and get a UVA degree, rather than a 4 year Longwood degree. And rather then do 2 years of UVA or WM debt free than than 4 years with a lot of debt.

I think we will see more and more kids go this route, rather as even top students are getting shut out of UVA/VT/WM.

I think that going to nova and missing dorms and college away would be misery. There is more to college than classes. The social life, connections and growing up away from home are very important. If someone went to nova for two years and then transfers to UVA they will be isolated and find the social life difficult. UVA is almost as difficult an adjustment and depressing as WM. Check the suicide rates. I think the Nova transfer saves money but cost the students a lot in other ways.

This is a valid concern, but in my experience I had good friends from high school at all the big in-state schools and visited often, so I knew Charlottesville was where I wanted to be. I had been at Mason and at the time it had about as much student life as Nova (I think it's much different now). I transferred from GMU to UVA and worked in Cville for the summer before school started. The transition was very easy. I had friends who did 2 years at Nova and transferred to JMU and VCU. All of us who transferred lived at home, worked part time, and commuted to school, so we saved a lot of money. Maybe my situation is unique - close-knit high school class who went almost exclusively in-state - but I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. If my child is in a similar situation I will encourage the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have but DC took a science course there as a rising senior in high school. The teaching was horrendous. The teacher clearly didn't even want to be at the class and often cancelled lab. After that experience, I'm saying no to the Fairfax campus.

I took my pre-reqs for nursing school at NVCC (going for my second degree after a BA at UVA) and I had 2 of the best teachers I had ever encountered at NVCC. Both teachers were in the sciences (Microbiology and Anatomy & Physiology). PP: Perhaps, your kid got a lousy teacher. But, that happens at every school.

As an aside, I've also encountered the worst professors/instructors at UVA.

YMMV.

[Anonymous]

The transcript does show CC/UVA or CC/W&M or wherever you went. For graduate school applications you need to show transcripts from every higher ed institution you attended. On resumes you can decide how to represent but many applications will ask specifics--years of attendance, etc. that make you show it. Not that I think it's a "bad" thing but it's not like it's totally invisible that you went that route.