High school students considering higher education should evaluate affordable strategies that ultimately achieve the same goals as the traditional transition from high school to a four-year undergraduate program. This should be of particular concern given cuts in student financial aid, tuition cost surcharges and percentage increases, and changes on many college campuses that result in larger class sizes due to faculty reduction, notably in the core courses taught in freshman and sophomore year.

Beginning Higher Education with the Community College

Not too long ago, Community Colleges were often viewed as the higher education “step-child” that catered to marginal high school students or offered college students at senior institutions on academic probation a way to rehabilitate grade point averages. Community Colleges were the “tech” schools that taught skills like auto mechanics and plumbing.

While many Community Colleges still offer excellent trade skills programs, they are turning from being a step-child to the work-horse of the higher education community. Technology, business education, criminology, and health care often form the backbone of successful programs, many leading to careers far more lucrative than those associated with some four-year BA programs at senior institutions.