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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]What I'm getting out of this is that you don't have to put $20k a year away in a 529 or even $10k.
You don't have to have the kids in some elite summer camp or live in a multi-million dollar mansion.
Of course, you can, they're all personal choices but don't feel bad if you can't, your kids will be fine.[/quote]

I don't think the poster disagreeing with OP think anyone should feel bad if they can't save for college. [b]What they believe is that if you CAN save for college, thus, giving your kids more options, you SHOULD. [/b]There's a big difference.

People who agree with OP think that the only point of a college education is to get a better job. To them it's purely vocation training. If that's your attitude, then the CC path may well be a good plan. But some of us think college is about more than that. I attended an elite college after attending a mediocre public high school. That year was an amazing experience and a lot of what made it wonderful happened outside the classroom.

I took a CC course about 10 years ago. (I took it because I was getting a master's degree in a different field and didn't feel equipped to take some of the courses without learning some basic skills. So I audited a CC course.)

There were middle-aged immigrants in my CC class who were terrific people. But most of the younger people in my CC class were lousy students and most--though not all--had utterly unrealistic plans for their careers. (The 2 exceptions were immigrants. One admitted he had done no work in high school and barely graduated. When he ended up in a back breaking job, he went to CC at night, but had to start in the remedial classes. He turned it around.) They cut class. They didn't do half the assignments. They would talk when the prof was trying to teach, etc.

The two kids who were good students admitted that they found the going hard. This wasn't because the work was hard for them--it wasn't. It was because they felt isolated.

The CC I attended has articulation agreements with some decent 4 year schools. But only a minority of the kids who start at a CC graduate from a 4 year school. And, I'd guess that a lot of those are the non-traditional students.

I give a lot of credit to the kids who go to CC and then succeed at 4 year colleges. But I'm not going to tell you that I think the experience at a CC is the same as that at a 4 year college, especially if you live on campus and take advantage of a lot of things that are offered. The 2 kids in my class who were good students certainly weren't having an experience remotely like mine a lot of years earlier or like that of my adult child more recently.

If you can't afford to give your kid the option of the better experience, that's fine. But if you can and won't, well...to me that's different. It's possible though--maybe even probable--that the kids OP is raising may be smart but view college solely as vocational training. But some of us think that if that's the way they feel, they're missing out on a lot. They'll have the same piece of paper at the end, but they won't have had the same experience.

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Yea I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned earlier... A lot of failure to launch young people are in CC. If your kid doesn't get that 4.0 in CC then they are essentially stuck with a STEM CC degree and few options.[/quote]

This is false.

CCs around here are perfectly fine. And many students do well after they have left. A lot of failure to launch kids are at CCs, but most of these students are not taking the STEM classes.

Kids go to CCs for different reasons. There are those who go because they could not get in anywhere else.

And there are those who go because it's cheaper and closer to home. These kids meet kids in a similar position and they do just as well as they would have if they went straight to 4 year colleges.

CCs don't just dump all entrying students in similar classes. There are assessments tests to determine college readiness, and students get placed in their classes accordingly. A student who barely graduated high school is not taking the same Math class with a good student. The weaker student would be placed in a lower level Math class until they are ready to take the next class

If your kid is not bright and thinking of majoring in basket weaving, then a CC is not for them if you can afford a 4 year college. You'd be counting on networking or marrying someone smarter to get them through life, so you should go with the best school you can afford.

A bright engineering student or accounting student or pre med student would do just as well in a CC as they would in a 4 year college. 
And there are former CC students who get 99 percentiles on their LSATs and get into top law schools.

I wouldn't send my kid to a CC if I can afford the 4 year they want to attend. However, it's ridiculous to suggest that the sane student would not perform as well in the CC as they would in a 4 year college. They will, and they do perform just as well when they transfer to 4 year colleges.

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