Choosing a School

As community colleges struggle with over-crowding and a lack of funding, for-profit colleges are offering to help, giving community college students the opportunity to earn transferable credits at low tuition rates.

Kaplan’s Online Courses Can Count Towards Community College Degrees

The Wall Street Journal reports that Kaplan University, a for-profit college owned by the Washington Post Co., is offering California community college students the option of taking courses at its online schools. These credits can be applied towards a degree at their home campuses.

In addition, the newly created Community College Connections program will allow students to take Kaplan’s online courses at a 42% discount, which will make the cost of courses similar to that of a community college course.

Kaplan will also allow graduates of California’s community colleges to transfer to one of its degree programs and complete their bachelor’s degrees at a 10% discount, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This video gives an overview of Kaplan education.

Community College Credits Count Towards B.A. Degrees at Bridgepoint

Meanwhile, Ashford University, which is operated by Bridgepoint Education Inc., is signing articulation agreements with a number of community colleges and public universities and colleges. The articulation agreements usually outline that students transferring from the community college or public university may transfer up to 90 credits towards earning their degrees from Ashford University.

A press release issued by Bridgepoint indicates

Years ago, community college students were most likely to transfer to state colleges or universities. But today, community college graduates are increasingly found at private and highly selective four-year colleges.

Experts say the change is likely a result of increased recognition of the value of a diverse student body, the pressure that some small colleges are feeling to bring in tuition-paying students during this economic downturn, and awareness from college administrators that community college transfer students often bring a special set of strengths with them to four-year institutions.

Why Private Colleges and Universities are Recruiting Community College Students

Increasing Diversity

University of Virginia sociology professor Josipa Roksa tells the USA Today that selective private colleges specifically recruit community college graduates because these transfer students can often help with their campus diversity “in terms of race and socioeconomic status.

Tatiana Melguizo, an education professor at the University of Southern California, says that her university has been working hard to increase its population of minority students and that USC has found that accepting transfer students is a good way to accomplish the goal. The university, Melguizo tells USA Today, has found that “Community college transfers [are] the best deals. They're motivated, they're more likely to graduate, and they're relatively cheap" for the college to educate.

Seeking Tuition Revenue

Financial considerations may also be driving the surge of private institutions that

In these times of tighter family budgets and increased competition for admission to four-year universities, community college students may worry about their prospects for transferring to a university after earning an associate’s degree.

However, many students can put their minds at ease, especially if you live in an area where your local community colleges have entered into guaranteed admission agreements with four-year state universities. What follows is an overview of some states that are leading the way in guaranteed admission and articulation agreements:

Abigal Endsley writes on Pearson.com, one of the leading providers of educational materials: "So before contacting your local community college, first decide what degree you want and where you want to graduate from. This—admittedly—is a monster of a task in and of itself. (If you want some help with it, I recommend our free ebook What Should I Major In?)

Then you’ll need to know what’s required to earn that specific degree from that specific school. What kinds of courses do you need? What subject? What specificity? What level? Check the college’s website for this information. If you’ve never done this research before, it may feel like drinking from a fire hose. Our crash course on college course codes may help.

Once you understand what degree you want, where you want to earn it from, and your degree’s specific college credit requirements, only then can you can begin researching which of those credits you can transfer from a community college."

Hawaii

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin

The face of college education in America is changing, especially on community college campuses. While community colleges were once unfairly labeled as “13^th grade,” these two-year institutions now provide opportunities for high-achieving students to challenge themselves. Indeed, many high school valedictorians and honors students are enrolling in community colleges after highschool.

Community Colleges Increasingly Serving the Best and the Brightest

Prompted partly by economic concerns, several top high school students are choosing to forego enrollment at prestigious four-year universities in favor of spending their first two years in an honors program at a community college. Indeed, the savings can be dramatic, and these students can save $80,000 by attending community college first instead of a private college.

These honors programs, most highly selective and academically rigorous, are designed to provide academically talented students with intellectual challenges for an affordable price. They are more popular now than ever.

This video explains honors programs.

Honors Programs at Two-Year Colleges Are Thriving

A recent article in the Washington Post reported that applications to community college honors programs are growing quicker than general applications, which are also rising. Honors programs of particular note include:

* The Montgomery Scholars program of Maryland's Montgomery College. This highly selective program, which is ten years old, has only 25 seats available and received a record 275 applications for Fall 2009, according to the Post.

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While community colleges provide an excellent opportunity to transfer to four-year institutions, the latest statistics are not optimistic. In fact, according to the most recent accountability report released by California's community college system, only 40% of community college students who seek four-year degrees are successful in transferring to one of the state's four-year universities.

In California, 60% of community college students who intended to transfer to four-year universities never meet their goal - which has led to the formation of a state task force charged with finding ways to improve the transfer rate, as reported by the Mercury News.

The obstacles facing community college students wishing to transfer to four-year universities are formidable. Overcrowded community college campuses make enrolling in required pre-requisite courses difficult. Rising tuition at public universities means four-year degrees are now unaffordable for some students. In addition, a lack of standardization in transfer requirements statewide makes the transfer process feel like a confusing maze to many degree-seeking students.

This video explains how to transfer from a community college.

Indeed, there is much room for improvement in helping more community college students transfer to four-year universities.

Why Some Students Never Make It to Four-Year Universities

Community college students who wish to transfer to a four-year university in today's educational climate face a number of potential roadblocks - a fact which may account for the high number of