community-college-disadvantages

www.dotcomhunter.com Community College Disadvantages While there are many distinct advantages that can be associated with attending a community college there are a few disadvantages that I would be remiss in not mentioning. We all like to look at the positi ve side of things and the good in my opinion of community colleges, at least as a springboard for university learning far outweigh the b ad. However, if you are considering community college as an option w hether for your associate's degree alone or have plans to move along to the university level upon completion you should see the big pict ure and not just the sunshine and flowers. The first thing you should be aware of, and this applies primarily to those students with plans to transfer, is that you should always con sult the college you intend to attend next in order to make sure that the courses you are taking on the community college level are compat ible with the core requirements for the university. In many cases the y are similar enough to be considered compatible but there are except ions and it is better to find this out sooner rather than later. If y ou plan to attend a University that is located near the community col lege you are attending you should check and see if they have some sor t of articulation agreement that will allow associate's degree gradua tes to transfer seamlessly. Many states are stepping in and passing laws that require colleges in their specific states to accept community college credits as transfe r credits in an effort to keep qualified workers in the state. Some u niversities are even offering distance learning programs to associate s degree graduates in order to allow access to students who live a gr eater distance from campus to have access to educational opportunitie s that would have been denied to them in the past. Of course if you l ive in one of these states, a former disadvantage may now work in you r favor. Many community colleges do not offer housing opportunities and most o f those that do are still largely commuter campuses rather than resid ence campuses. Rather than spending funds on housing these colleges t end to reserve their spending to assist in academic pursuits. Communi ty colleges in rural areas are much more likely than those in larger cities to offer housing on campus. The lack of on-campus housing make s participation in sports and other activities a little more difficul t than colleges that are largely residential in nature. If you decide to make a community college your last stop when it comes to your personal educational experience you will be denying yourself a great deal of earning potential over the course of your lifetime. Fo r this reason you should seriously consider the benefits that transfer A gift from www.dotcomhunter.comwww.dotcomhunter.com ring to a university will present for your educational goals. My largest complaint when it comes to community colleges when compare d to larger universities was the fact that there are such limited opp ortunities to take specific classes than when compared to those class es on a university level. You will find that you must remain within y our sequence of courses on the community college level or you risk ne eding an extra semester or year in order to complete the requirements for your associate's degree. Universities tend to offer greater flex ibility, especially in lower level courses that are required by all i n order to graduate. My other major complaint when it comes to community college is the f act that they often have much smaller libraries than universities. T his seriously limits the ability that students have to do extensive research with the exception of rare cases. Universities simply have deeper pockets than the average community college. For this reason they will have bigger libraries and far more bells and whistles than the average community college. Hopefully we'll see this change over time as well. Despite the disadvantages that can be associated with community college educations, I feel that they are very much outwei ghed by the benefits that the community college learning environment offers. PPPPP 661 A gift from www.dotcomhunter.com