Terrified of student loan debt? Earn your bachelor’s degree at a community college
Nearly 70% of all bachelor’s degree recipients leave school with debt. College graduates in 2016, for example, amassed $37,000 in student debt on average, and one in four student borrowers are either in delinquency or default on their student loans. The growing student loan debt crisis is real.
As such, college-bound students, now more than ever, need to plan their education strategically with an eye towards saving money and cutting costs. In 2016 and beyond, how you go to college is arguably more important than where you go to college.
One of the best ways to save money is to complete two years at a community college, then transfer to a four-year university. This is traditional advice oft rehearsed by legions of career counselors, but still worth repeating.
At a community college, you’ll pay a much lower rate of tuition. You’re also likely to enjoy smaller class sizes. And chances are your instructors will have more teaching experience than the graduate students and teaching assistants who often teach lower division courses at universities. (Which is not to disparage graduate students. I was one myself who taught intro courses at a state land-grant university.)
Looking to amplify your savings even more? Stay on at a community college for all four years. Nearly half of US states now allow community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees and at the rate we’re going, this may become a nationwide practice in the not too distant future.
Take Washington state.
A whopping 24 of the state’s 34 community and technical colleges now offer Bachelor of Applied Science degrees targeting high-growth occupations in need of more qualified college grads. The goal? Help meet Washington’s ambitious goal for increasing the overall number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to 42,400 per year.
Small class sizes, as well as flexible day, evening, and online schedules, are key benefits to the community college experience. There’s also the fact that Bachelor of Applied Science degrees are just that — “Applied”— which means students learn by doing.
And of course, in sticking to this post’s overarching theme of saving money amidst the crippling student loan debt crisis, there’s cost.
At Green River College for example, students who live in the Seattle-Tacoma region can earn a bachelor’s degree in Software Development, Network Administration & Security, Marketing & Entrepreneurship, Aeronautical Science, or Forest Resource Management at roughly half the cost of a state university.
// UPDATE: In 2016–17, tuition will drop by 15% at Green River College as part of the new state budget. Washington is the only state in the country to implement historic tuition cuts for all of its public colleges and universities this year.
It’s no wonder, then, that bachelor’s degree enrollments are up 61% throughout Washington state’s community and technical college system, a trend that’s projected to continue over the next 10 years, and beyond.
And that’s just Washington. 22 other states allow community colleges to award bachelor’s degrees and many administrators believe that number will grow. If there is a bleeding edge of innovation in higher education, this is it.
Interestingly enough, college-bound students who are looking for ways to save money and cut costs aren’t the only ones who stand to benefit from the rise of applied baccalaureate degrees. Employers benefit too, especially those who are struggling to diversify their respective workforces.
Why? Because community colleges — which are philosophically and pragmatically all about providing affordable access to a college education — are also magnets for under-served and under-represented minorities, career changers, as well as non-traditional and first-generation college students.
Community colleges, in other words, are where the diversity is. And with more and more community colleges offering bachelor’s degrees, we’re talking about exceedingly diverse pipelines of local baccalaureate talent that employers can tap into without having to hire out of state or overseas.
Employers and college-bound students alike, take note. Look to your local community college, home of the new four-year degree.
