Deciding where to study for college is such an important decision, and many high school seniors, along with their parents, consider many factors when deciding which school they’re enrolling to. Unfortunately, community colleges are seldom, if ever, part of this consideration.
Why is that so? Should we challenge the status quo? And, what changes can we start creating to make community colleges part of every high school seniors’ considerations?
Let’s start with the root cause of the problem: the negative stigma that surrounds community colleges. We’ll take a look at how this started and the various misconceptions that plague students of these schools. Then we’ll discover the many benefits community colleges offer to their students as well as some tips on how to deal with the stigma.
Here we go.
History of Community Colleges
Before the 19th century, higher education was a luxury. Only the wealthy could afford to put their children through college. Degrees were limited to law, science, medicine and liberal arts, and lessons included Latin and Renaissance literature.
So, if you belonged to a middle-class family living any time before the 19th century, you’re unlikely to go to college. Instead, you would be helping earn a living for the family.
This all changed, thanks to lawmakers who wanted to make higher education accessible to the masses. In 1901, the first community college opened its doors to the public, offering Americans from rural areas the opportunity to acquire new skills with their limited incomes at a time when the country was industrializing. These skills would help them land higher-paying jobs in the nation’s swiftly growing cities.
In essence, community colleges solved the problems associated with higher education. It provided an inexpensive alternative that did not have rigorous entrance requirements. It also cut down the study period from four to two years, introduced practical subjects, and in 1920, added vocational training in jobs like manufacturing or broadcast radio, for example. In short, community colleges provided the common people an opportunity to earn a higher education, and with it, jobs that secured them a higher standard of living.
Fast forward to the modern era, community colleges continue to perform their mandate of low-cost education for everyone, i.e., people from different social classes, enrolling 8.2 million students during the school year 2018 to 2019. Today, Michigan for example is not only known for its Big 10 universities, but they also host many highly-accredited community colleges. These colleges support things like local manufacturing with vocational training or the local music scene with sound recording programs.
Unfortunately, community colleges can’t seem to shake off the image of being “the poor man’s path to higher education.” This perception has greatly diminished its image. What’s worse, students also need to contend with the many community college myths and misconceptions that have sprung up over the years and which still persist today.
Are community colleges inferior?
Many people still hold the preconception that community colleges are generally inferior to universities. Nowadays, this just isn’t the case. It turns out, that a growing number of community colleges actually outperform universities in several important ways.
A Shift in Thinking: Benefits of Community Colleges
In reality, community colleges provide students with many benefits.
- Inexpensive tuition – Enrolling in a community college is a good route to take in order to save money.
- Academic flexibility – Community college students can choose to study during the day, at night or part-time. This means they won’t have to forego a steady paycheck or important family commitments as well as study at their own pace.
- The ability to live at home – Traveling across the country or living in a dorm means college students will have costs associated with travel, food, etc. When you enroll in a community college, you don’t have to move to a dorm or travel far away. You can keep living at home, which translates to huge savings.
- Close-knit and diverse community – Enrollees in a community college come from a wide range of backgrounds so the student body is much more diverse than the typical four-year college. You’ll be able rub shoulders and build strong relationships with single parents, students with disabilities, first-generation students and others.
- Academic rigor – Community colleges usually have small class sizes, so there’s plenty of opportunity for students to work directly with professors who are teaching there because it’s there passion and not a requirement for their masters or research.
- Famous graduates – Morgan Freeman, Queen Latifah, Hallie Berry, George Lucas, Eddie Murphy, Steve Jobs and many more are products of community colleges.
Busting Misconceptions Surrounding Community Colleges
Basically, students in community colleges are stereotyped based on misconceptions that are easily refuted with facts and the right information. Below are some of these myths:
- “Community colleges are glorified vocational schools”
Some people perceive community college enrollees as individuals who seek only vocational training. However, research by the Teachers College at Columbia University found that more than 80% of students who enroll in community colleges actually aim to earn a bachelor’s or higher degree. In addition, a National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report showed that 46% of four-year college program graduates in 2013-2014 came from a two-year college.
- “Community college enrollees don’t have the grades required by four-year colleges”
There are people who think that students who enroll in a community college don’t meet the grade requirements of four-year colleges. However, grades aren’t even among the reasons students enroll in a community college. The U.S. News & World Report states that students decide to enroll in community colleges because the tuition is affordable, they can maintain a school-life balance and for academic flexibility.
- “Community college graduates will only be able to land lower-paying occupations”
Another misconception is that graduates from community colleges won’t be able to get good jobs because employers will look down on them. However, many schools are now focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) initiatives that teach skills which, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most employers are looking to hire for these days.
How to Deal with Community College Stigma
The image of being “the poor man’s path to a higher education” can’t be easily erased, but with the right information, it will eventually be a thing of the past. For now, students have to push back against this stigma and educate those who are not well-informed about the benefits of community colleges.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Inform your family, friends and other people in your network of the many benefits of community colleges and your personal reasons for studying in one.
- Connect with your schoolmates as well as students from other community colleges. Offer support to those individuals who share the same challenges.
- There are people with authoritative voices from community colleges who are working to change the status quo. Connect with them, help spread the word and add your own thoughts to the discussion.
- Be proud of your school’s legacy. Remember that community colleges were created to make available to everyone the benefits of higher education. There’s no shame in that!