Why You Should Go to Community College

And yet, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, community colleges have been hit especially hard by declining enrollment numbers. Evidence suggests that many community colleges are worth the time and money, but they are too often overlooked by prospective students and by the broader higher education ecosystem. The time is upon us to help community colleges along in their mission, to improve their visibility, and to improve pathways to further opportunity for community college students.

If you’re considering community college, jump to our look at the 50 Best Community Colleges of 2021.

Otherwise, read on for a closer look at community colleges, what they’re doing right, and how we can help them do even more to help students.

Why Is Community College Enrollment Declining?

Community college enrollment is in a sharp decline because the pandemic has impacted the communities most served by two-year schools—low income families and communities of color—with particular severity.

According to National Student Clearinghouse released in the summer of 2021, enrollment in community colleges declined sharply in the wake of the pandemic. Overall enrollment “was down 9.5% this past spring, about 476,000 fewer students than in spring 2020.”

This troubling trend is evidence of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the demographics most frequently served by community college—low income families and non-white Americans. Historically, recessions and the resultant unemployment have actually produced surges in community college enrollment as applicants have sought shelter from inhospitable job markets. However, the pandemic produced a different trend.

For far too many students enduring this pandemic, and for the community colleges where they have pursued their degrees, the transition to online learning was difficult, frustrating and ultimately unfulfilling. Many schools lacked the resources to make this transition effectively, and many students lacked the access or workspace to continue learning remotely.

Moreover, two-thirds of all community college students come from households with incomes less than $50,000 per year. The household margin for financial difficulty is small, especially for those community college students who also work part-time to afford tuition. The joblessness and economic hardship wrought by the pandemic almost certainly made it all but impossible for a percentage of community college students to continue their pursuits.

What Are the Benefits of Attending a Community College?

The benefits of attending community college are considerable, and include advantages such as affordability, accessibility, intimacy, flexibility, the opportunity to gain experience in college-level courses, and the ability to transfer to a public four-year school with limited bureaucratic hurdles.

Affordability

Community colleges are particularly noteworthy for their affordability. These two-year institutions are often highly conscientious of the financial burdens facing their students, and therefore dispense with frills and extraneous expenses in favor of a low-cost education. Whereas the average annual cost for a four-year public college was $23,705 in 2016-17, and the cost of a private four-year school was $48,865 per year, students enrolled in community college paid an average of $9,674 per year.

Accessibility

Community college is designed as a point of entry for students of all educational backgrounds and abilities, and therefore places a low threshold for entry that typically includes just a high school diploma or GED and payment of tuition.

Intimacy

Class sizes in community college are often far smaller and more conducive to personal engagement with instructors and classmates. While you would likely sit in a class for 25 to 35 students in community college, introductory lecture courses at public and state schools can seat you with as many as 300 of your classmates.

Flexibility

Because so many community college students must balance work and home responsibilities, community colleges are often designed to be flexible, offering night courses, remote learning degrees, part-time study options, and more.

Experience

The associate degree can be earned in just two years and at a far lower cost than a bachelor’s degree, which makes it a great way to test out the waters of higher education. One reason that so many transfer students succeed in four-year institutions is because of the valuable college-level experience already earned in community college.

Transfer Agreements

Most community colleges offer seamless pathways for transfer into nearby public and state schools. These transfer agreements remove much of the red tape that can prevent the acceptance of courses and credits completed at the associate level, and can therefore make it easy for you to jump from the two-year program into pursuit of a highly-respected four-year degree.

What Are the Disadvantages of Community College?

The primary disadvantages of community college are that graduates will generally face a lower wage ceiling than those with four year degrees, that most community colleges do not offer access to a campus experience, and that you will only have the opportunity to earn a two-year degree.

Lower Post-Graduate Pay

There is a clear wage difference between those earning an associate degree versus those earning a bachelor’s degree. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those with an associate degree will earn an average of $938 per week, whereas those with a bachelor’s degree will earn roughly $1305 per week.

No Campus Life

Among the cost-cutting measures that make community college so much more affordable, perhaps the biggest sacrifice is access to a physical educational community. Most community colleges are not residential, and on-campus facilities are likely limited to academic buildings. Those in search of the traditional campus-life experience usually won’t find this in a community college.

Two-year Degrees Only

Because community colleges generally provide only associate degrees, there are limits to the professional roles you may be able to access upon completion. The bachelor’s degree is the minimum threshold for many professional certifications, licenses, and roles, which means that stopping at the associate degree will cap your opportunities for advancement in certain fields.

Can Community College Get Me a Good Job?

Community college can land you a great entry-level job, though your ability to advance in your chosen field with a two-year degree will vary depending upon your profession. In some fields, a two-year degree will provide you with all the skills, knowledge, and credentials you’ll need to succeed and achieve a position of leadership. In other fields, you may be required to earn a four-year degree, or even a graduate degree, in order to advance past a certain tier in your field.

That said, the community college pathway is an excellent one in an array of technical and vocational areas where the associate is considered a qualifying credential. In fact, many community colleges are especially well oriented toward career readiness. According to governing.com, Community colleges are valuable because they not only are affordable but also provide a path for first-generation college students to attend college and are sensitive to community workforce needs.

The article points out that 20 states host programs offering tuition-free grants for students willing to enter into fields with skills shortages such as nursing, welding, commercial truck driving, automotive technology and computer technology. [Organizers] branded this program as a poverty fighter, inviting faith-based institutions, community-based organizations, and labor and civil rights groups to assist in marketing it to their constituencies, and enrollment soared.

How Do You Get Into Community College?

Getting into a community college typically requires the applicant to earn a high school diploma or GED, satisfy tuition and fees, and submit all requested application materials. This accessibility is the reason that community colleges have done such an effective job at courting students with limited financial means such as first-generation students, those from low-income families, and those from marginalized communities and populations.

How Can We Help Community Colleges Succeed in Their Mission?

In order to help community colleges succeed in their mission, we have to take steps to offset the financial pressures facing those served most by community college, and we must ease the pathway between community college and other opportunities in higher education.

President Biden has proposed a plan that would make community college free to all who wish to go. This initiative would be a boon to those students considering community college, especially those currently struggling to balance work and education. Economic hardship is a major factor in the enrollment decline across the college landscape. Moreover, financial difficulties are among the most frequently cited reasons for college non-completion across all levels.

While community college may be comparatively more affordable, the cost is not covered fully by financial aid. For those who struggle to make ends meet, the cost of tuition and the demand that college courses place on time that might otherwise be spent working can both be difficult to sustain. Covering the cost of community college would dramatically reduce dropout numbers and produce a larger population of debt-free undergraduates with entry-level skills and credentials.

In other words, by fueling these opportunities up front, we have the opportunity to significantly reduce the economic strain placed on the economy by those who default on student loans and those who lack the credentials for gainful employment or career advancement. Moreover, this would create an even greater incentive for those ultimately bound for four-year degree programs to begin this pursuit in a two-year institution. This too would help to slow the growing tide of student loan debt and consequent defaults.

But there is another critical step that we must consider taking in order to facilitate this latter opportunity. To reiterate a point offered here at the top, transfer students who come from two-year schools and ultimately enter the “most competitive” or “highly competitive colleges” have a 75% six-year graduation rate. According to Forbes, this compares favorably to a 73% rate for those who enroll directly out of high school and even more so against the 61% rate yielded by transfer students from other colleges.

And yet, only 14% of all students at America’s 100 most selective colleges are transfer students. Just 5% of those began their journey in community college. In other words, while this demographic performs exceptionally well on the second leg of the undergraduate journey, it also makes up an extremely small piece of the puzzle. Arguably, elite colleges—which do play a great part in just how costly college is and how much debt follows students into graduation—should take greater steps to recruit, court, and facilitate the transfer of community college graduates.

Most community colleges share transfer arrangements with public and state schools, easing the process by which credits and degrees are recognized and counted toward completion of a bachelor’s degree. It may be time for elite colleges to treat community colleges with the same regard, and to ease the pathway into greater opportunity for community college students—especially those who excel in their studies. Removing bureaucratic hurdles and dedicating greater resources to outreach could not only fuel greater interest in community college, but it could ultimately improve the ability of the most selective schools to serve low-income facilities and non-white students.

As the article in Forbes points out, this isn’t a call for charity, nor is it an affirmative action initiative. Statistics demonstrate that transferring community college graduates are especially well-suited to the transition and challenges posed by the course of education at selective schools. We must simply do a better job of connecting them with such opportunities.

If you are a community college student, or an aspiring associate with hopes of ultimately gaining access to a selective college, find out if an Elite School is Right For You.

Otherwise, jump right to our look at the 50 Best Community Colleges of 2021 and get started on your way to an affordable, accessible and flexible undergraduate degree.