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I believe that community college is a better first step into higher education than going straight off to a four year college.

Cost - Are the parents providing the money for the child's education or is the child taking out loans? If you're a parent of a potential college student, the cost of your child continuing to live at home must be weighed against the cost of housing and food away from home.

It is significantly cheaper to go a community college than it is to go to a four year college. This savings is not only reflected in class cost. There is also housing costs to consider. At a four year college, a student typically lives in a dorm, university housing, or in an apartment.

Meals are another potential cost. Is the student going to get a meal plan in a dorm? Some schools offer different choices for meal plans. Is the student they living in an apartment? Are they going to provide their own food?

Class size - The classes are much smaller at the community college level than at a four year college. There is much more of an opportunity to get a one-on-one experience with your instructor. From personal experience, I still maintain a friend and mentor relationship with some of my community college professors that I had in the early 90's. There isn't a single college professor that I still talk to from my days as an undergraduate student at a four year college.

Is the student ready? - I certainly wasn't mentally "ready", right out of high school, to go away to a four year college. I received my associates degree and subsequently transferred to a four year college Many of my friends attended a four year college straight out of high school. Some of them were not "ready". I knew a few students who got bad grades or dropped out. Some of those students had to attend a community college to get their grades back up so that they could reapply to their four year college.

The benefits of an Associates degree - An Associates degree is only a two year degree, but it is a big step towards a meaningful goal. For some students, a two year degree is a valuable piece of paper. It is also very beneficial for students who want to transfer to a four year institution. Four year schools are usually much more inclined to accept the two year degree completely than they would be if a student transferred from one university to another without a degree. Some students might run into an issue where some classes will be transferable to the new college and some won't. Then

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