No, because I want my child to have a more traditional college experience living on campus and experiencing living away from home. We did a prepaid college plan to make sure we could at least do a state school. If that is the only option, its a great choice, but not my personal preference when we can save and make at least a state college happen.

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.

+1

I would not entirely rule it out, but have some reservations, solely because my child wants to get his degree in Electrical Engineering, and (unless something goes wrong) will have already completed AP calculus in high school. For that particular degree, I think it could be better to start out at a 4-year college to ensure that the correct pre-requisites are covered.

Anonymous wrote: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.

NVCC is an xlnt option providing you research it and follow all the prescriptions the PP above lays out. It's a terrific program yet I have never met a single family/kid who has done it successfully and transferred into UVA (live inNoVA). But someone must do it because UVA takes some 800 students every year from the NVCC schools in VA. We're 1:03, the family who had the awful professor for a summer science course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

!:03 back. You're welcome. It was an awful experience. DC wanted to quit after week two but she knew it was important to get the science course done, with an A and on her transcript before senior year college applications went it. The college Chem course was also supposed to prepare DC for the SAT II Chem. test. DC got the A (only after she challenged grading on some of her exams - the prof. had graded the tests in hap-hazard fashion) but the teaching was not reflected on her performance on the SAT II chem test. All in all a waste of time and a miserable summer. To be fair, the prof. had a horrible rate-my-professor rating but it was the only chem. course offered that summer within sensible driving distance. No, it did not prepare her for the SAT II chem test, college chem. or anything else, but she did have a college course with an A on her transcript when applying. Yes, the credits were accepted by a flagship university but not the grade! Lesson learned? Believe Rate-my-professor.com.

Yikes! Who have you that advice? Did you DC take high school chem? If so, a generic prep book would have sufficed for the SAT2.

Of course! She had finished high school chem first or second year so needed a refresher. She took the college-level course and had the books and outside tutoring. Score still wasn't high enough for the Ivy she wanted.

If she needed tutoringand still scored low, it wasn’t the teacher. It was probably the student not being academically ready.

It's not that she scored low, it's that she didn't get 800 on the SAT II subject matter tests. More in the 750s. Ivies want to see 800s on at least two subject matter II tests.

While I can't comment on NOVA, I can comment on another community college. My nephew and his group of 5 friends all went the community college route and then transferred to either U of Md College Park, Towson or Univ of Balt. and they all have done real well, coming out with great jobs. They all stay focused and still graduated within 4 years. And they lived in an apartment together during the entire 4 years together so some commuted to school. It can be done but you have to have a focused child and be proactive to know what will transfer and what won't. I'll admit none of them did engineering or pre med or pre law or accounting but the world is made up of other professions. One works at a top DC real estate management company, one at a defense contractor, one for Coca-Cola, one at a hospital (non-medical job) and other at NASA. They are under 30 and all have their own homes, newish cars, maybe even a kid and wife. But they kept each other motivated and on the task at hand. They could have gone straight to a 4 year school but cost was an issue.

So don't dismiss community college. It works for some. I think that if you want to be a nurse, then community college is the way to go and probably some other professions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No I would not OP. CC is for first gen folks and poor high school performers and low SES people.

This is false. For a lot of reasons. Starting with—low SES and first gen kids qualify for extensive need based aid. UMC kid do not. You either do not live in this area, with a high COL and very strong competition to CA state schools, or you live in a super affluent bubble within the NOVA bubble.

And if your UMC child had decent grades and test scores, he/she would receive a merit scholarship to one of the hundreds of 4-year institutions which offer them. The academic quality of faculty and peers at a CC cannot compare. Please don't delude yourself.

Look, it all depends on the amount of merit scholarship. Not everyone is Upper Middle class making 250.000 or more. Lots of people make around 100.000 per household and do not qualify for aid, especially if they are educated and not a minority.
Besides, decent grades do not mean much and unless the student is in the highest 5% of the group with an SAT higher than 1500, the parents have to come up with a minimum of $50.000 per year (In addition to merit scholarships) which is quite tough for people who are right above the poverty level.

1. You can get merit aid with stats less than that, although where you get the aid will vary.

However, I certainly agree with you that families still have to come up with a lot of money because what the school thinks you can contribute and what you think you can contribute will not be the same.

2. My son's college will definitely come in below $50k (he had two good schools that were going to come in around $35-$40k) -- all merit aid, and he is going somewhere cheaper than engineering at UVA instate before transportation. We can come up with that, but it is absolutely true that many families cannot.

(I wouldn't choose engineering at UVA for my kid, but YMMV).

If community college was right for him, I would be very glad we had such a good one nearby.

As it is, we have the means and he has the grades to go somewhere more selective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No I would not OP. CC is for first gen folks and poor high school performers and low SES people.

This is false. For a lot of reasons. Starting with—low SES and first gen kids qualify for extensive need based aid. UMC kid do not. You either do not live in this area, with a high COL and very strong competition to CA state schools, or you live in a super affluent bubble within the NOVA bubble.

And if your UMC child had decent grades and test scores, he/she would receive a merit scholarship to one of the hundreds of 4-year institutions which offer them. The academic quality of faculty and peers at a CC cannot compare. Please don't delude yourself.

Look, it all depends on the amount of merit scholarship. Not everyone is Upper Middle class making 250.000 or more. Lots of people make around 100.000 per household and do not qualify for aid, especially if they are educated and not a minority.
Besides, decent grades do not mean much and unless the student is in the highest 5% of the group with an SAT higher than 1500, the parents have to come up with a minimum of $50.000 per year (In addition to merit scholarships) which is quite tough for people who are right above the poverty level.

Anonymous wrote:My dh did it! (He had done 1 year in another state, then went to nova for 1 year + a summer). Transferred with an associates to GMU and did very well there. Made 105k/yr right out of college.

Not promising that outcome..... but people can do very well. Nova doesn’t really come up much since he was there for a short time.

My DH did the same (NOVA to GMU). He is in sales (where it doesn't really matter much where you went to college).

Anonymous wrote: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.

Depends on the classes. If you are taking lots of sciences (and labs) hoping to transfer to a premed track, scoring an A requires a lot of studying.

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry but this is an elitist, entitled question that seems moronic to me. I went to NVCC for two years and then GMU for two years, both had quality instruction.

I not only would "send my child to Nova" but I would congratulate them for making a sensible choice regardless of their IQ or potential or HS performance.

So this is a sensible choice for everyone? You do know there’s more to the CC choice than just the quality of the education. It’s an entirely different, and in my view not so great, experience. I get the financial argument for CC but to pretend that there isn’t a significant trade-off is absurd.

I'm sorry but this is an elitist, entitled question that seems moronic to me. I went to NVCC for two years and then GMU for two years, both had quality instruction.

I not only would "send my child to Nova" but I would congratulate them for making a sensible choice regardless of their IQ or potential or HS performance.

Anonymous wrote:My dh did it! (He had done 1 year in another state, then went to nova for 1 year + a summer). Transferred with an associates to GMU and did very well there. Made 105k/yr right out of college.

Not promising that outcome..... but people can do very well. Nova doesn’t really come up much since he was there for a short time.

+1. Same- my husband went to NoVa for 2 years and transferred to GMU. He graduated GMU worked for a bit and started a business making over 200k. The college you go to does not necessarily equate to success. It’s how motivated and how hard you are willing to work that matters. Do what’s right for your child and what’s within your financial means. I promise you that success stories can come from either route- a community college or a 4 year college or both.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No I would not OP. CC is for first gen folks and poor high school performers and low SES people.

This is false. For a lot of reasons. Starting with—low SES and first gen kids qualify for extensive need based aid. UMC kid do not. You either do not live in this area, with a high COL and very strong competition to CA state schools, or you live in a super affluent bubble within the NOVA bubble.

And if your UMC child had decent grades and test scores, he/she would receive a merit scholarship to one of the hundreds of 4-year institutions which offer them. The academic quality of faculty and peers at a CC cannot compare. Please don't delude yourself.