Would you encourage your kid to go to Community College and transfer to UVA or William and Mary?

[Anonymous]

college prof here who used to teach at GMU and saw lots of NOVA guaranteed admissions kids - don't do that. The guaranteed admissions program requires a specific set of courses over 2 years, and sometimes the credits don't even end up getting accepted, so some of our transfer kids were unable to graduate in 2 more years and had to stay on an extra semester or year.

If your child is going to stay at their first school for this semester anyway, encourage them to apply as a transfer ASAP.

Lots of colleges don't take that many transfer credits, so it's best to do it before your kid has taken too many courses at the other school.

[Anonymous]

There are enough colleges and enough need based aid and merit based scholarships in United States that every high achiever can attend a decent public or private school.

[Anonymous]

Imploding your kid's entire college network, experience, social life, dating pool and competitiveness to "save" a few grand. Talking about penny wise, pound foolish.

Anyone who claims community college classes are "just like" university courses is a pathological liar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As none of the high achievers go to community college, its just not the intellectual or social environment i would want for my child. Its like putting them in class with bottom 25% of high school graduates, doesn't make sense to me.

Yep. Research says this causes smart kids to regress. And maybe your son or daughter can get romantically involved with some dope addict or ex con. How neat would that be. You would have to be a fool to send your smart kid to a cc. Complete waste of time, way too much risk, zero upside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is smart, did well, and got into a few good out of state state schools and private schools, but she didn't get into UVA or William and Mary. (She's in the top 15% of her class, but not the top 10% which, at her high school seemed necessary to get in - too many northern Virginia kids applying for the same schools we are told.) She has committed to an out of state school, but we are having heart palpitations about the cost (we saved for $120k/kid for college and can now see that it was not nearly enough...please no snarky judgy comments. We are both on non-profit salaries and felt pretty darn good about having saved as much as we did). We are trying to figure out how to make all 4 years work without her going into too much debt (and have two other kids on the way to college in the next few years). We are seriously considering the "guaranteed admission" program at Northern Virginia Community college where, if you maintain a 3.4 (or 3.6) for the first 2 years at community college and then transfer to UVA (or William and Mary). Has anyone had experience/have wisdom on doing that? Did it ruin your kid's college experience or did it work out quite well? Would love to hear any opinions on that strategy or warnings. (FYI - NoVA is $5,000 per year to attend...one would save a huge amount of money to do that for 2 years and still be able to get a solid BA from UVA!)

Instead, have her take a gap semester or year and just have her go to South Dakota State University, which has a $22,000 annual cost of attendance for out-of-state students: https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/edu/219356/south-dakota-state-university/tuition/ Or, just call and see if she could start there in September.

Being out-of-state there might feel a little odd, but going there would be an adventure, and South Dakota has a strong job market. I think going to any college for years is better for kids who want that than going to community college and transferring. I think living in a dorm or the equivalent is the most important part of going to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I want to sincerely thank those who took the time to share your experiences and insights. I've learned a lot of helpful information and gained some valuable insights from you (and please continue to share if you have other experiences with the CC to UVA or W&M route). To those who felt the need to demonize, diagnose, or insult me because I didn't know (or hadn't thought through) some things and came here to learn ...I only hope that you can find some inner peace and love for yourself that might help with your need to throw hate onto others. Life is short and there is already so much negativity in the world, why spend any time adding to it and intentionally insulting others?

Yeah, no. You can drop the martyr complex. It is your job as a parent to research this and not wait until your kid is practically headed out the door to another school to make decisions like these. Own it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"We are seriously considering the "guaranteed admission" program at Northern Virginia Community college where, if you maintain a 3.4 (or 3.6) for the first 2 years at community college and then transfer to UVA (or William and Mary). "


Is this really a thing???

The community college transfer option is “a thing” but it’s not as easy as it sounds or everyone would be doing it. You
Must meet HOA requirements in core courses. Read comment 8:07 on p 2

[Anonymous]

I know some people that have done really well by going to NVCC and transferring to UVA (one went to Harvard Medical school) and others that spent years at community college before finishing requirement to transfer. If your kid is organized and committed to transferring, the guaranteed admissions is pretty straight forward. NVCC has advisors who guide students on specific classes to take since transferring is common and expected. Also, UVA/William and Mary have detailed lists of classes that are accepted and credits given for these classes.

Make sure your kid knows both the requirements for getting an associated degree from community college and the major/graduation requirements at the desired 4 year college. For example, UVA Arts and Sciences school requires 2 writing classes and 4 semesters of a foreign language (or a placement test score for that level). You can transfer without these classes, but it is tough as a junior transfer to squeeze in required intro classes while also taking major requirements.

My sibling spent 4 years (including summers) at NVCC to get a two year degree. He was slowed down by changing majors, required classes being full, dropping classes to maintain his GPA, and having to take a high-school level foundation class math class (even though he had taken calculus in high school) that did not count toward his degree and prevented him from taking a math and science sequence for a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We are seriously considering the "guaranteed admission" program at Northern Virginia Community college where, if you maintain a 3.4 (or 3.6) for the first 2 years at community college and then transfer to UVA (or William and Mary). "


Is this really a thing???

The community college transfer option is “a thing” but it’s not as easy as it sounds or everyone would be doing it. You
Must meet HOA requirements in core courses. Read comment 8:07 on p 2

Yeah, if OP and family want to explore this option, I suggest meeting with someone at the CC. In my state the guaranteed admission route is very regimented. So you need a certain number of credits and a certain GPA and you can't have more than a certain number of credits. I'm not sure how that would work with a double transfer. You need expert advice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know some people that have done really well by going to NVCC and transferring to UVA (one went to Harvard Medical school) and others that spent years at community college before finishing requirement to transfer. If your kid is organized and committed to transferring, the guaranteed admissions is pretty straight forward. NVCC has advisors who guide students on specific classes to take since transferring is common and expected. Also, UVA/William and Mary have detailed lists of classes that are accepted and credits given for these classes.

Make sure your kid knows both the requirements for getting an associated degree from community college and the major/graduation requirements at the desired 4 year college. For example, UVA Arts and Sciences school requires 2 writing classes and 4 semesters of a foreign language (or a placement test score for that level). You can transfer without these classes, but it is tough as a junior transfer to squeeze in required intro classes while also taking major requirements.

My sibling spent 4 years (including summers) at NVCC to get a two year degree. He was slowed down by changing majors, required classes being full, dropping classes to maintain his GPA, and having to take a high-school level foundation class math class (even though he had taken calculus in high school) that did not count toward his degree and prevented him from taking a math and science sequence for a year.

This happens more than people realize--the required courses for transfer tracks are often full and there are clear pre-reqs that have to be sequenced. Or one grade below the req messes up the whole trajectory. And you can get a fantastic prof there or a really unreasonable, unhelpful one. So parents/students are picturing this quick streamlined process that they are going to sail through because they are smarter and higher achieving than the average student there but there are often snags along the way that can delay the transfer a year or two. This approach can save money and help you get a degree from an institution that is more selective than you were able to get into as a freshman, but there are a lot of pitfalls along the way that can set you back further than you realize. And that transition from hs to college can throw kids off--they don't organize their time well, take a class seriously etc. because they're upset they are doing cc to 4 year unlike their friends etc. If were my kid who just missed UVA/WM and we have sufficient means, I think I would recommend choosing another strong state school over the transfer option and just trying to love their school. They can always try to transfer somewhere else from there too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We are seriously considering the "guaranteed admission" program at Northern Virginia Community college where, if you maintain a 3.4 (or 3.6) for the first 2 years at community college and then transfer to UVA (or William and Mary). "


Is this really a thing???

The community college transfer option is “a thing” but it’s not as easy as it sounds or everyone would be doing it. You
Must meet HOA requirements in core courses. Read comment 8:07 on p 2

Yeah, if OP and family want to explore this option, I suggest meeting with someone at the CC. In my state the guaranteed admission route is very regimented. So you need a certain number of credits and a certain GPA and you can't have more than a certain number of credits. I'm not sure how that would work with a double transfer. You need expert advice!

+1. The Virginia guaranteed transfer program is not easy and many (IMHE) NVCC officers don't understand all the prerequisites (there are different standards as you can see by the attached for different colleges at UVA). On top of that, Each 4 year Virginia institution has its own guaranteed transfer program for transfer from NVCC to, say W&M, but those rules each differ, too. The burden is on the student to figure it out or you might wind up spending 3 or four years pulling together what you need to transfer. Remember to take advantage of the summer courses at NVCC. My kid took one while in high school (horrible adjunct professor who should not have been teaching but they pay her only $1500 a course). Anyhow, here's a start from the UVA website to get you going. Note the particular courses that must be taken (sometimes very hard to get when you are in a public college or even a big public university like Berkeley) and the GPA needed. https://admission.virginia.edu/transfer/transfer-course-requirements#:~:text=The%20School%20requires%20students%20have,Arts%20and%20Sciences%2C%20not%20Commerce.. I don't know of anyone who has actually done it but its a great financial savings to parents and a smart way to get into UVA. Off the top of my head I believe UVA takes 600 community college transfer students into the junior class each year, but check on that. DO call the UVA officer in charge of this and make sure you are working off the correct giudelines because they do change. https://admission.virginia.edu/transfer/transfer-course-requirements#:~:text=The%20School%20requires%20students%20have,Arts%20and%20Sciences%2C%20not%20Commerce..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: She is committed for the freshman year. We are looking to change course after her freshman year and/or encourage our other kids differently.

Um no, just apply to transfer in the spring, I know three people who transferred into UVA after getting denied initially. Just tell her to get good grades and transfer.

Yes, that's an option, but she would still save more money by spending a year at NOVA community college. I don't know anyone who has done it, but it seems reasonable.

It's not that easy. See points made above

[Anonymous]

Have her do this upcoming year and transfer to a Virginia school. Or see if she can get some aid, explore scholarships for merit, get an on campus job and work 2 summer jobs to make this college work for her. You say you saved 120k so you have at least 2 years to save more, change jobs to a higher paying one or dip into your other kid’s college funds while building theirs back up.

I’m just wondering how much is the out of state school that she is starting that you are this worried about the finances now and not when you made the deposit and started planning for in May.

[Anonymous]

Yes. That's exactly what my brother did. Community College then William and Mary.

[Anonymous]

Imploding your kid's entire college network, experience, social life, dating pool and competitiveness to "save" a few grand. Talking about penny wise, pound foolish

I agree with this poster. Just to save a buck, you are really messing with your DD. Btw, if she is this good a student, it's a real shame you didn't let her apply out-of-state, get merit aid and go somewhere better. If a student is a likely for UVA, they could have gone somewhere very good out of state.