I come from somewhere that just has colleges and that’s it. What even is a community college?
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Community colleges tend not to turn down students. They might assign you remedial classes and refuse to let you take certain classes until you’ve completed those remedial courses but rarely will you be expelled or rejected for poor grades.
Community colleges/CCs typically offer more 2 year degrees, certificates and certifications with little to no dormitories at a tenth or less the cost of typical colleges. The quality of the teachers are usually on par with regular colleges but usually they start at a jr or community college before regular colleges, so the quality of teachers at CCs usually are brought down a little. CCs usually offer more evening/night time classes as well which will appeal to more non young adults, so the age range at CCs are usually a bit more diverse.
If price or timing is a factor, it’s usually better to start at a CC and then move on to a more well-known or prestigious college afterwards since your degree won’t say “did 3.5 years at XYZ CC and then 1 semester at ABC University” but rather “degree awarded from ABC University”
I think it is different by state and area, but where I am community colleges do not offer anything higher than associates degrees. About 10 years ago the community college I work at started to offer Bachelor’s in Applied Sciences and we had to lose the community in our name. The interesting part is that as a state college we still can only offer degrees in demand by our community. So to have that degree we have to prove need. We cannot offer BA degrees, those are exclusive to the Universities and private colleges. So in a way we are more community oriented than we ever were.
Nothing changed with our AA degrees though, same price, same curriculum, same transferability to the universities. And we still don’t have dorms.
Typically, the terminal degree at a community college is an associates (or a handful of bachelors options) whereas the terminal degrees at universities tend to be masters or doctorates.
A lot also don’t check *any* high school records to get in, meaning that some people who haven’t bothered to finish high school or even get a GED can just sign up and *say* they finished high school, and bam, you’re in college.
Then you use those 2 years to transfer to a university because universities only care about your CC record at that point.
Not like I’d know from experience or anything…
This is a great question and why I wish we were more technical with our language in the U.S. technically, a college is a 2-year degree and many are INSIDE of universities (which offer 4-year degrees).
People attend X University and get their [SCIENCE/HISTORY/LITERATURE] degree from College Y.
For example, I have a master’s in English from the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts and Humanities from Weber State University. This is how MOST universities are organized.
Typically just associates and certifications are offered with credits applicable to larger 4 year bachelor programs
Community colleges generally only provide 2 year degrees and/or certification programs. They are usually much much cheaper than traditional al university/colleges. If you take some courses at a community college with the intent to transfer to another school for higher level degrees, you have to make sure the courses you take are transferable. Most of the time they will, but not always. Especially if it is a core class for your program.
Community colleges only provide 2 year degrees, whereas colleges give 4 year degrees. Universities, in the USA, give 4 year degrees, plus 2 more degrees after the first degree, that range from 2 to 4 year degrees.
It’s a valuable bridge between a high school education and a college education. CCs are much cheaper, have high school sized classes and are often have connecting curriculum to state schools. Pacing and rigor tend to be about half-way between high school and a four-year school. They are a really good place to satisfy basic education requirements which are often jammed-up in four year public universities.
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