by Margaret Gaines

Created on: August 21, 2009

WHICH IS A BETTER FIRST STEP INTO COLLEGE: COMMUNITY COLLEGE OR REGULAR

For the person who enjoys school and plans to complete a four year degree , attending a four year college from the start provides a more stable atmosphere and more opportunities by the end of the college experience than attending a community college and transferring to a traditional college after two years. Students at a traditional college live in an atmosphere where there is an expectation that they will complete a four year degree. They also experience stability and have the opportunity to develop relationships with professors and classmates that are much harder to forge when transferring in after completing two years of school and only working in the regular college environment for two years.

Community colleges fill an important place in the education system, but they focus on two year degrees, certificate programs and short term educational goals. That environment can negatively impact the drive of some students who get discouraged by friends who are completing their studies while they are faced with the challenge of transferring to a new school, learning a new environment and developing new relationships with professors and students. In a regular college setting these pressures do not exist and the same student might thrive rather than get discouraged by the transitions they face half way through their college career.

The stability that four year colleges offer not only reduces the stress from having to transition between schools, it allows the student more of an opportunity to develop their educational and social niche. Living the traditional college experience allows the student to grow and learn how to take care of themselves while all of their peers are experiencing the same thing. While this may turn into a sink or swim scenario for some people, most students survive and eventually thrive on their own because they live through it with friends who are facing the same challenges at the same time. This helps them forge friendships and take responsibility for their own actions. Many students who go to community colleges continue to live at home and are not faced with the challenge of growing up and taking care of themselves until they transfer out two years later. When they transfer into the new school most of their peers have already lived on their own for several years so the transfer student is behind the curve in learning how to take care of themselves and does not have

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