Anonymous wrote:-- "It's not a bad idea to do the first two years at a community college on the cheap, then transfer to a more prestigious university." (Have fun with that!)

-- Some variation of "undergrad rank/prestige doesn't matter, only grad school matters." ( )

-- Boasting about all the APs their child is in, never mentions the AP exam scores. ( )

-- "Emma is doing research this summer with a university biochemistry department." (Emma is currently taking AP chemistry.)

-- The passive aggressive "oh, I've heard that's a good school."

As a financial adviser, this is one of the smartest things a student, who isn't going to get a full (or even 50%) ride and whose parents are not going to foot the bill, could do.

Do you know how many clients I have who are lawyers who are 6-figures in debt from school loans? A good amount. Because the market is so saturated, many aren't even with big firms making the big bucks they thought would be coming their way.

The job market is tough enough as it is without stepping out into adulthood $50k in debt.

I know of a teen who did NVCC for 2 years and transferred to UVA. She's now in her second year of med school at Johns Hopkins.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a community college and for the most part, each kid I teach who has a planned intention of transferring to a 4-year institution is motivated, smart, hardworking, and succeeds in that goal. Screw you to demean that, and screw your judgey jealous comments.

Different poster here. I've actually spent a little time looking at the issue of CCs vs 4-year schools. I'm not actually trying to be insulting to those who choose community colleges but it is a well-known fact that community college as a whole do not have the same quality of offerings as 4-year schools - a problem that community colleges acknowledge. And they have terrible student retention rates. While I agree that community college is an important piece of the higher education puzzle, I would always advise a kid to try and go the 4-year route first. And I think many parents on this forum would do the same.

I have also spend a little time looking at the issue - professionally, with a focus on debt.

I don't think the parents here are typical, and I would discount their recommendations.

You want to end up in default on your student loans? Take out more debt than can ever be paid for in your chosen career, or even better, drop out before completion so you have the debt and not the degree. Those are the people defaulting in droves.

Many of the kids starting in CC have fewer financial resources, or upon reflecting on their high school record (with the evidence being their lackluster high school effort level), feel that college is possibly too risky. If you didn't do your homework last year, why would you next year? For these two groups, a more economical start is definitely in order.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a community college and for the most part, each kid I teach who has a planned intention of transferring to a 4-year institution is motivated, smart, hardworking, and succeeds in that goal. Screw you to demean that, and screw your judgey jealous comments.

Different poster here. I've actually spent a little time looking at the issue of CCs vs 4-year schools. I'm not actually trying to be insulting to those who choose community colleges but it is a well-known fact that community college as a whole do not have the same quality of offerings as 4-year schools - a problem that community colleges acknowledge. And they have terrible student retention rates. While I agree that community college is an important piece of the higher education puzzle, I would always advise a kid to try and go the 4-year route first. And I think many parents on this forum would do the same.

Not necessarily.
You can often get to better college with transfer agreement between schools with much less money and efforts. From NOVA to UVA. From MC to UMD CP. No problem. Just get good grades thats is it.
You will not need to go through SAT/ GRE, EC, essays and all that craziness.
Also there are kids who are not very good at certain subjects. Like kid who is not good at Math, or not good at Writing etc (specially 2e kids). For them that easy A or B are priceless. Just take these prerequisites with enough As in your favorite subjects and then transfer. All those Bs will stay behind and will not damage your College GPA. If you do not need them for your major - that is win-win.

NOVA Transfers paid how much for the same degree?

No employer asks "where did you do your freshman year?"

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a community college and for the most part, each kid I teach who has a planned intention of transferring to a 4-year institution is motivated, smart, hardworking, and succeeds in that goal. Screw you to demean that, and screw your judgey jealous comments.

Thanks for writing that!

I want my DC to go to an elite school, just like I went to an elite college and grad program. But, I would never think the things that OP does. I can attest that the biggest losers I ever met were the ones who thought they had done something in life simply by getting into the school rather than what they would do/did afterwards.

The vast majority of America's best and brightest do not go to the elite colleges. Some because their families can't afford it, some because their high schools didn't prepare them, some because they needed more time to grow up, and some because they had other passions to pursue. For every Ivy admit, there are hundreds of equally high potential and deserving students that don't get in.

So get over yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a community college and for the most part, each kid I teach who has a planned intention of transferring to a 4-year institution is motivated, smart, hardworking, and succeeds in that goal. Screw you to demean that, and screw your judgey jealous comments.

Different poster here. I've actually spent a little time looking at the issue of CCs vs 4-year schools. I'm not actually trying to be insulting to those who choose community colleges but it is a well-known fact that community college as a whole do not have the same quality of offerings as 4-year schools - a problem that community colleges acknowledge. And they have terrible student retention rates. While I agree that community college is an important piece of the higher education puzzle, I would always advise a kid to try and go the 4-year route first. And I think many parents on this forum would do the same.

np. Just to be clear my kid is going to community college so you know where I am coming from. Why does it matter to you what other people choose to do? I've taken classes at the same CC and I have found very good professors along with the not so good. Just like at 'regular" college. It will make zero difference once she graduates from college. After all employers only ask "Where did you GRADUATE, not where you went all four years. And also, kids drop out of Ivy league colleges, state colleges and all sort of schools, not just CC. I find the kids there to be nice, friendly and hard working!

Anonymous wrote:Guessing OP isn't getting the responses she had hoped for. As the mom of three college grads, one in college, and one senior in high school I can say with complete authority that OP is 100% clueless.

OP has succeeded in one thing: unifying all of us against her. Good job, OP!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a community college and for the most part, each kid I teach who has a planned intention of transferring to a 4-year institution is motivated, smart, hardworking, and succeeds in that goal. Screw you to demean that, and screw your judgey jealous comments.

Different poster here. I've actually spent a little time looking at the issue of CCs vs 4-year schools. I'm not actually trying to be insulting to those who choose community colleges but it is a well-known fact that community college as a whole do not have the same quality of offerings as 4-year schools - a problem that community colleges acknowledge. And they have terrible student retention rates. While I agree that community college is an important piece of the higher education puzzle, I would always advise a kid to try and go the 4-year route first. And I think many parents on this forum would do the same.

I don’t think that anybody is recommending community college for every kid, and I’ve never seen anybody recommend that on DCUM. OP portrays this as some kind of universal advice for all students, but that’s not what anybody is saying. The recommendation is for kids who need to get their grades and study skills up, or who can’t afford four years at the in-state public.

Guessing OP isn't getting the responses she had hoped for. As the mom of three college grads, one in college, and one senior in high school I can say with complete authority that OP is 100% clueless.

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a community college and for the most part, each kid I teach who has a planned intention of transferring to a 4-year institution is motivated, smart, hardworking, and succeeds in that goal. Screw you to demean that, and screw your judgey jealous comments.

Different poster here. I've actually spent a little time looking at the issue of CCs vs 4-year schools. I'm not actually trying to be insulting to those who choose community colleges but it is a well-known fact that community college as a whole do not have the same quality of offerings as 4-year schools - a problem that community colleges acknowledge. And they have terrible student retention rates. While I agree that community college is an important piece of the higher education puzzle, I would always advise a kid to try and go the 4-year route first. And I think many parents on this forum would do the same.

I’m lol’ing after reading OP’s post. Enjoy thinking that you know it all.

The bragging on facebook that you and your 10th or 11th grade kid are touring all the top 15 elite colleges makes me laugh. Such a waste of time, all to brag and project status -- before your kid gets rejected from all of them?

I teach at a community college and for the most part, each kid I teach who has a planned intention of transferring to a 4-year institution is motivated, smart, hardworking, and succeeds in that goal. Screw you to demean that, and screw your judgey jealous comments.

OP, I can’t decide if you’re plumb ignorant, or just a sucky person like a pp said.

Anonymous wrote:-- "It's not a bad idea to do the first two years at a community college on the cheap, then transfer to a more prestigious university." (Have fun with that!) -Yes, that can work very well. The degree is the degree. [b]Agree, especially for kids who don’t have the grades to get into a flagship state university straight out of high school and would otherwise be paying $$$ for a fourth-tier no-name. [/b]

-- Some variation of "undergrad rank/prestige doesn't matter, only grad school matters." ( ) There is a lot of truth to that. And actually, I agree that prestige is the least of the many considerations that go into choosing the right college. ITA that grad school matters more in my field, and college is a different set of choices.

-- Boasting about all the APs their child is in, never mentions the AP exam scores. ( ) -Don't know anyone who "boasts" about the number of AP exams, and no one I know reports their kid's scores. If their kid is taking APs this year, they won’t know the scores until next June, so yeah, they’re not in a position to talk to you about AP scores.

-- "Emma is doing research this summer with a university biochemistry department." (Emma is currently taking AP chemistry.) -Good for Emma! How often does a parent actually elide an AP class with doing summer research at a university? Maybe 0.0001 of parents, I’m guessing.

-- The passive aggressive "oh, I've heard that's a good school." Not sure what is passive aggressive about that, but I don't care what anyone thinks about my kid's school.

My kid went to Columbia, I get that sometimes, and it never occurred to me it’s passive aggressive, just a parent saying something nice.