Graduating High School With an Associates's Degree...or Not....

[Reefgazer]

The advantages to graduating my DS or DD with an Associate's degree are obvious.  Tell me about the disadvantages to this that you or your child have encountered.

[frogger]

Would you still qualify for freshman scholarships? I don't know the answer.

 

 

I'll be following this thread though as I may encourage my daughter to enroll in a middle college.

[Pawz4me]

DS19 did this past May. We’ve encountered no negatives at all. He got the best of both worlds at all the four year schools he looked at—he was eligible for freshman scholarships but was also eligible for many perks that typically require upper class standing.

[Reefgazer]

I have 2 concerns about an early Associate's degree:  1)  The implications for scholarships/merit aid, and 2) The impact of coming into a dormitory where all the bonding happened freshman year.  Those are the things I am mainly concerned about, and any other unforeseen issues I haven't thought of. 

DS19 did this past May. We’ve encountered no negatives at all. He got the best of both worlds at all the four year schools he looked at—he was eligible for freshman scholarships but was also eligible for many perks that typically require upper class standing.

 

[JanetC]

Our state pays for two years of Running Start. That's not enough for a lot of kids for reasons from course scheduling to needing to start slowly with one or two courses to just wanting to follow their own passions rather than a degree requirement list.

 

My first kid was a start slow and add course load gradually kid. She didn't do the associates degree, but she was ready to move on and she had more than the maximum number of courses her destination school would accept anyway.

[Pawz4me]

I have 2 concerns about an early Associate's degree: 1) The implications for scholarships/merit aid, and 2) The impact of coming into a dormitory where all the bonding happened freshman year. Those are the things I am mainly concerned about, and any other unforeseen issues I haven't thought of.

DS graduated from an early college high school and chose a four year university that takes a significant number of early college students. His university sets aside a section of a dorm for those students. They recognize that while they aren’t typical freshmen, they aren’t typical 20 or 21yo transfer students, either. DS is on the spectrum but has had no trouble fitting in socially and making friends, and I think his university’s approach to housing for early college students played a big part in that.

 

ETA: I’m pretty sure his university treats homeschoolers who graduate high school with an Associate’s the same as they treat early college students because there were some homeschoolers at our orientation session, which was specifically for early college students.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Pawz4me

[Lori D.]

I have 2 concerns about an early Associate's degree:  1)  The implications for scholarships/merit aid, and 2) The impact of coming into a dormitory where all the bonding happened freshman year.  Those are the things I am mainly concerned about, and any other unforeseen issues I haven't thought of. 

 

1. It is really going to depend on the university.

 

You must research, research, research and look at EACH university you are interested in for what their freshman eligibility policies are regarding:

- Associate degree earned while still in high school

- total amount of credits that a high school graduate can come in with via transfer + CLEP + AP

 

Only going on the very informal polling results of what I see in these threads ;), more frequently, I hear that there was NOT a problem of still coming in as a freshman, even if earning an Associate degree or taking a lot of DE credits while in high school.

 

It still may be very worthwhile to apply to a school that does not accept the student as a freshman, BUT, DOES accept so many credits that the student will only need 2 years to finish the Bachelor degree, AND the university offers a renewable transfer student scholarship. (Raising hand, that's what happened here for DS#1, who earned an AAS degree AFTER high school graduation, then transferred to the 4-year university.)

 

2. It is really going to depend on the university.

 

Your student may also be able to live off-campus as a freshman and not need to worry about dorms at all.

 

Dorms are not always where students "bond" and find their best buddies for going through college. I FAR more often hear about dorm mate horror stories. Or, people have no problems with the dorm mates, but they also don't become "best buds" -- they just share a room for a school year. And may end up moving on to other dorm mates in subsequent years.

 

(DS#1 came in as a transfer student and had freshman roommates that year, so all of them were new to the school, and while they were all nice and got along fine, they all were doing incredibly different degree programs, and had all different interests, so no close bonding and "best buds" situation grew out of it. DS#1 was closer to people in the classes of his degree program, and then in his second year, he landed a dorm leader partial scholarship, and was closer with that group of other dorm RAs and dorm leaders than with his actual dorm mates.)

 

The bigger the school, or the bigger the degree program department is, the less likely this is a problem. Even if the department that the student will go in to is smaller, the student will be entering the core concentration classes at the same time other students are starting the core concentration classes, so the student will have a 'cohort' of students in the same study situation to be friends with.

 

Again, a larger school will have tons of transfer students -- and most likely a lot of students living off campus, so there may not be a lot of "dorm-bonding" happening, what with so many students coming/going.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Lori D.

[kiana]

Other potential disadvantage, not yet mentioned:

 

If the gen eds are completed but courses required early in the major are not, you may run into trouble with excessive time left to graduation/excessive credits. It is important to plan ahead, especially if the target major has a sequential curriculum (engineering would probably be the biggest example, but many stem majors may run into this). Make sure that you're not missing some required freshman class that's a prerequisite for the required sophomore class that's a prerequisite for all the junior classes. 

[Arch at Home]

We have not found graduating high school with an AA degree to be a problem. As long as the student graduates from high school after they earn the AA degree, every school we looked at considered DD to be a Freshman and many cases with Advanced standing. She was considered for Freshman scholarships and slotted into Freshman housing.

 

It is important to check each school and degree with regards to whether the CC credits count towards anything and how many can be used. DD ended up attending a highly selective LAC which did not take any of her CC credits but her CC transcript was proof of her rigorous high school education.

 

CC has been the right choice my DKs. Once In high school, they needed to branch out socially and start performing academically for someone else.

[Reefgazer]

I've had this question brewing for some time in the back of my head, but haven't asked because the kids are still a ways from college.  But I don't know how I can go about researching specific colleges until the kids have some idea of where they want to attend.  Both kids (DD 1oth grade and DS 7th grade) are fairly honed in on their field of study, but the younger hasn't researched college at all, and the older hasn't much (although she's looked at a few websites that I have suggested).  I can't foresee them making their place decisions until their junior year, but if they going to get an Associate's degree I feel like I need to start putting that in motion and planning now.  

 

Regarding dorm comraderie (spelling?):  DS is very introverted and I am not sure whether he would need that social connection to feel a part of the college, or if he wouldn't give a hoot.   I am most concerned about this with the introverted DS; DD will make friends no matter what she does or where she lives.

1. It is really going to depend on the university.

 

You must research, research, research and look at EACH university you are interested in for what their freshman eligibility policies are regarding:

- Associate degree earned while still in high school

- total amount of credits that a high school graduate can come in with via transfer + CLEP + AP

 

Only going on the very informal polling results of what I see in these threads ;), more frequently, I hear that there was NOT a problem of still coming in as a freshman, even if earning an Associate degree or taking a lot of DE credits while in high school.

 

It still may be very worthwhile to apply to a school that does not accept the student as a freshman, BUT, DOES accept so many credits that the student will only need 2 years to finish the Bachelor degree, AND the university offers a renewable transfer student scholarship. (Raising hand, that's what happened here for DS#1, who earned an AAS degree AFTER high school graduation, then transferred to the 4-year university.)

 

2. It is really going to depend on the university.

 

Your student may also be able to live off-campus as a freshman and not need to worry about dorms at all.

 

Dorms are not always where students "bond" and find their best buddies for going through college. I FAR more often hear about dorm mate horror stories. Or, people have no problems with the dorm mates, but they also don't become "best buds" -- they just share a room for a school year. And may end up moving on to other dorm mates in subsequent years.

 

(DS#1 came in as a transfer student and had freshman roommates that year, so all of them were new to the school, and while they were all nice and got along fine, they all were doing incredibly different degree programs, and had all different interests, so no close bonding and "best buds" situation grew out of it. DS#1 was closer to people in the classes of his degree program, and then in his second year, he landed a dorm leader partial scholarship, and was closer with that group of other dorm RAs and dorm leaders than with his actual dorm mates.)

 

The bigger the school, or the bigger the degree program department is, the less likely this is a problem. Even if the department that the student will go in to is smaller, the student will be entering the core concentration classes at the same time other students are starting the core concentration classes, so the student will have a 'cohort' of students in the same study situation to be friends with.

 

Again, a larger school will have tons of transfer students -- and most likely a lot of students living off campus, so there may not be a lot of "dorm-bonding" happening, what with so many students coming/going.

 

[Reefgazer]

I had not thought of this, but both kids may run into this, with DS in computers and DD in equine science.  Thanks for the heads-up!

Other potential disadvantage, not yet mentioned:

 

If the gen eds are completed but courses required early in the major are not, you may run into trouble with excessive time left to graduation/excessive credits. It is important to plan ahead, especially if the target major has a sequential curriculum (engineering would probably be the biggest example, but many stem majors may run into this). Make sure that you're not missing some required freshman class that's a prerequisite for the required sophomore class that's a prerequisite for all the junior classes. 

 

[Reefgazer]

I figure this is our worst-case scenario:  No credits transfer, but it makes her more desirable because she has proven her capability in college.

We have not found graduating high school with an AA degree to be a problem. As long as the student graduates from high school after they earn the AA degree, every school we looked at considered DD to be a Freshman and many cases with Advanced standing. She was considered for Freshman scholarships and slotted into Freshman housing.

It is important to check each school and degree with regards to whether the CC credits count towards anything and how many can be used. DD ended up attending a highly selective LAC which did not take any of her CC credits but her CC transcript was proof of her rigorous high school education.

CC has been the right choice my DKs. Once In high school, they needed to branch out socially and start performing academically for someone else.

 

[Laurel-in-CA]

I love that my kids have been able to explore inexpensively at the CC. Scholarship $ is squat for transfer students, though. We're fortunate we have a state U in town, so transfer is smooth and easy and they can live at home and save $$ as long as it has their desired major.

 

But if they're going to go to CC in high school, they'd better be able to do the work.  Those grades are forever.

[Pawz4me]

A caveat to my earlier posts -- DS did the early college high school because we felt it was the best high school choice for him. The financial aspect of whether or not his classes transferred wasn't really a factor. We went into it with a "it's nice if some or all of them do but no big deal if they don't because this is high school" attitude. We weren't paying anything extra for them, so it was easy to take that approach. It would be a lot different if we'd been paying for all those credits and books.

[mom31257]

Dd is a microbiology tutor at her college. The professor has spoken with her about why some of the students are struggling and need a tutor. He said that some of them have transferred in classes, such as chemistry, which were not rigorous enough to prepare them for his class. 

 

Once reason we didn't have dd do many dual enrollment classes is because I worried that our local colleges wouldn't be challenging enough to truly prepare her for upper level classes at her current school. Her school didn't allow students to opt out of the most advanced freshman English class, regardless of the number of classes transferring in. I think it was for that purpose. They wanted all the students to have writing instruction there from their professors. 

 

Another reason was that I really wanted her to take a lot of core classes at her school because of things I had heard about some of the professors locally, but we knew she was qualified for a full tuition scholarship. It's been a high GPA to keep it, but she has thus far. Even if she makes all Bs this semester, she'll have it next and only has 3 more to go after this one. 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by mom31257

[kiana]

Lack of rigor is a definite issue. Some of our feeder CC's are just fine and some are definitively not. By state law, we need to treat them all the same, and cannot decline credits from any.

 

We aren't allowed to TELL the students "Uh, your C in college algebra from x CC *might* get you the knowledge that a D in the prerequisite to college algebra does here", but it is true. Very sadly, I've had several people change their degree focus because they just were so underprepared, and I *cannot* simply teach the prerequisite material in the class and give them credit for the class. 

 

If the professors at the transfer school start dropping major hints such as "Oh, we often recommend that students take ____ course again to make sure their foundation is solid, even though it transfers", do give it serious thought. It usually isn't a moneygrab, but rather a situation like this. 

 

That being said, it's often plenty to drop back one course in the sequence. The people who transfer in a trig or precalc class from these specific CC's and re-take it tend to do okay. 

 

Edit: But also, CC's vary! So do state schools! It is really important to treat each on a case-by-case basis. 

Edited February 6, 2018 by kiana

[MarkT]

I have not read this thread but how about:

complete all CC coursework,  apply and accept to U,  transfer credits, later near end of first sem at U apply for associates at CC

[kiana]

I have not read this thread but how about:

complete all CC coursework,  apply and accept to U,  transfer credits, later near end of first sem at U apply for associates at CC

 

Especially if you liked your CC, consider transferring classes back anyway and getting the degree after transfer -- most are open to this. My youngest brother transferred the 4 credits (speech and PE) he was missing back and did it. It helps with their numbers.

 

Due to political BS, CC's are getting a large amount of criticism for "not graduating" students. As you might have guessed from the first four words of that sentence, I think this is entirely unjustified -- if a student enters, takes a semester or two, and then transfers to a university, I think the CC has done a fine job even without a "degree". I feel the same about someone who enters, takes basic math and ESL classes, and then gets a better job (which was their original goal) and leaves. I'll end the rant here, and just leave you with -- if reasonable, give your CC a hand with appeasing their accreditors and get the AA afterwards. 

[catz]

I have a kid dual enrolling.  We do NOT have him doing full time because he's looking at colleges where some credits will probably transfer (or allow him to choose more electives or start a topic at a higher level), but probably not all.  He didn't know what direction he was going when he started, though he has a better sense now.   He is very busy with extra curricular including music, which he is now consider doing at college.  And he was doing a math and Spanish sequence online at home that makes more sense to complete than to drop back some levels to start over at the CC.   For his schedule, it's nice to have some subject areas that are a bit more flexible in terms of schedule for him.   Also, I wanted more flexibility in class choice for him rather than having to fit everything into nice neat buckets for an AA.  For the programs he is looking at, I think his current mode of operation makes him a more interesting candidate paired with a strong dual enrollment GPA and a strong ACT scre

 

If you have kid that has it all figured out and wants to go full time and especially if you know that all those credits will transfer to a terminal school, then I think that's great. 

 

PSEO/dual enroll is free in our state for qualified kids, so that hasn't been a consideration either way for us.  But if I were paying, I would be pickier about what I would pay for.  That said, for homeschooled kids I do think it is helpful for most to have some "proof" of schooling other than ACT/SAT.  I do think that can be dual enrollment.  But I also think CLEP, AP, SAT subject tests, other online classes with external grades, etc can work too.  I saw recently and maybe it was here that there was a threshold for kids with a bunch of AP classes (and I think this could apply to well done dual enrollment, etc) and determining college success.  Like if you do 4 or 5 AP classes well, that's a great determiner of college success and if you do more than that, there is no additional benefit unless you are getting the credits and it actually saves you money on tuition. 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by WoolySocks

[Matryoshka]

Other potential disadvantage, not yet mentioned:

 

If the gen eds are completed but courses required early in the major are not, you may run into trouble with excessive time left to graduation/excessive credits. It is important to plan ahead, especially if the target major has a sequential curriculum (engineering would probably be the biggest example, but many stem majors may run into this). Make sure that you're not missing some required freshman class that's a prerequisite for the required sophomore class that's a prerequisite for all the junior classes. 

 

That is definitely something to think about.  Dd is planning to graduate with an AS.  She had been saying for a while that she wanted to do her 4-year in Business.  She had originally planned to get her AS in Graphic Design, but we were still planning on having her take at least 2-3 semesters of Business requirements as well (like Calc, Stats, Econ, Accounting) - she has since decided to switch and get her AS in Business as well, but the switch wouldn't have been possible if she hadn't already been taking some of the Business classes.  She still may have to do more than 2 years at the 4-year, but she should be in a very good position.

 

I do have to say that she's pretty much decided to just go to one of the state schools (probably flagship) that have transfer/matriculation agreements with the CC.  If she were thinking of a school where the pre-reqs wouldn't count, she might be doing things differently.

 

She should be able to apply as a freshman, although I've been told that you need to make sure you do the graduation dates for high school vs. CC in the right order and the right time frame, or your freshman vs. transfer status can be messed up.  I can never remember the details, but I have a good friend who just went through this, so I'm going to double-check with her when the time comes.  From what I understood it's not a big hassle, you just have to make sure your ducks are in a row.

[Pawz4me]

I've been told that you need to make sure you do the graduation dates for high school vs. CC in the right order and the right time frame, or your freshman vs. transfer status can be messed up.  I can never remember the details, but I have a good friend who just went through this, so I'm going to double-check with her when the time comes.  From what I understood it's not a big hassle, you just have to make sure your ducks are in a row.

 

 

FWIW--DS's college graduation was one week before his high school graduation.

[Splash]

I have three kids in this type of program.  It is a high school that offers college classes and you can graduate high school with an AA.   Oldest son started this school as a junior and not really ready for college classes so he graduated with about 15 credits and now attends Community College as he wasn't quite ready for the four year university he wants to attend. Something that was hard was he felt dumb because most of his friends graduated with an AA and he did not.  So having the majority of the students either getting an AA or at least close made his achievements seem less which is too bad.  At his age I had AP English and History and that is it.  He had take 5 college classes to my 2.

 

Daughter who is 18, probably a psych major, business minor, and a senior started in 10th grade.  She will graduate with both high school diploma and an AA.  For her it made her much more confident going forward.  She had LD (dyslexia, auditory processing, etc) that made her question her abilities.  The high school allowed her to take a combination of high school level and college level classes as she went getting progressively more difficult.  It was a confidence booster for her.  No cost to us.  She was accepted to all three schools she applied for and asked to join into their honors programs.  She will enter as a freshman.  All adjustment of class  rank happens after the first year of college according to the schools.  She's eligible for all scholarships offered to  freshman.  I've encouraged her to explore a bit her freshman year and make it a goal to graduate in 3 years with a couple of minors if she wants.  She's getting the AA because she just kept plugging along and was so close.  This semester she's taking 12 credits.  This is the most she's taken.  Usually she took between 9-11 though at first she just took 3-6 credits a semester. We also felt for her it gave her some breathing room once she got to college so she didn't feel overwhelmed and could keep her load a bit lighter.

 

Daughter who is 16 started as a freshman.  She has a chronic illness which leaves her dealing with fatigue a lot.  This program allows us a lot of flexibility with schedule, load, speed, etc.  She should also finish with an AA in liberal arts.  She is my math and science girl and will go into a STEM field.  I've warned her that she may have to retake some courses and this program will not necessarily speed up her college experience but hopefully it will give her a firm foundation on which to build.  We've offered to let her graduate early and start taking classes at CSU instead but she's in no hurry and doesn't mind that she may have to retake some of her coursework in order to have it count toward her major  ie: biomedical engineering or genetics at the moment.  She likes the more challenging classes, most of her professors, and is thriving.  I could not offer what she needed at home and tutors weren't enough as we tried that in 8th grade. She doesn't get it from me.  Keeping her academics high but her social interactions with a younger group of peers is a better match for her at the moment.

 

I know some of the families have been disappointed that not 100% of the credits have transferred and that not all the kids just move right into junior level classes.  We purposely chose daughters university because she got the most credit toward graduation from them.  Her second choice would have been pretty good as well but the private university would have been the hardest transition so it went to the bottom of the choices, it was also the most expensive even with the scholarships.  Maybe for her master's degree.

 

I've really just let the kids set the pace.  No expectation/requirement that they get the AA, as they can graduate without it.  We just keep plugging along.  

[Melissa B]

I have 2 concerns about an early Associate's degree:  1)  The implications for scholarships/merit aid, and 2) The impact of coming into a dormitory where all the bonding happened freshman year.  Those are the things I am mainly concerned about, and any other unforeseen issues I haven't thought of. 

 

At the college my dd is planning to attend students that earn an AA through DE must still use the freshman dorm even though they come in as upperclassmen. She is not thrilled. The freshman dorms are not great. Also, AA's earned through DE don't affect scholarship/merit aid in our state.

[Crimson Wife]

Dd is a microbiology tutor at her college. The professor has spoken with her about why some of the students are struggling and need a tutor. He said that some of them have transferred in classes, such as chemistry, which were not rigorous enough to prepare them for his class.

 

Once reason we didn't have dd do many dual enrollment classes is because I worried that our local colleges wouldn't be challenging enough to truly prepare her for upper level classes at her current school. Her school didn't allow students to opt out of the most advanced freshman English class, regardless of the number of classes transferring in. I think it was for that purpose. They wanted all the students to have writing instruction there from their professors.

 

Another reason was that I really wanted her to take a lot of core classes at her school because of things I had heard about some of the professors locally, but we knew she was qualified for a full tuition scholarship. It's been a high GPA to keep it, but she has thus far. Even if she makes all Bs this semester, she'll have it next and only has 3 more to go after this one.

This is very true. My daughter is taking UC-transferable general biology this semester and so far it is a joke. She said it reminded her of Mr. Q.

 

Now she is not interested in a STEM major and just wants to knock out the high school and IGETC life science requirement in the most painless way possible. But as someone who did a Human Biology minor in my first bachelor’s, I am disappointed she is not getting a more rigorous course.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JanetC]

Expect that even if all classes transfer, many will be electives, not substitues, due to rigor difference.

 

I wouldn't expect the ones that don't transfer to be the majority. That's why there are the lists of accepted classes on the transfer degree plan, because those classes are actually accepted by the state university.

[katilac]

If the plan is 2+2, one drawback is only two years spent at university, so less time to get acclimated, bond with professors, make deep friendships, find opportunities in research, study abroad, or other programs.  

 

Another thing to be aware of is that 2+2 often turns into 2+3, even if all credits are accepted. In my personal experience and observation, 2+3 is more common. 

 

This might be due to class sequencing or availability - they will need to fit a lot of required courses into 4 semesters, which is not always the easiest thing to do, particularly if their BA is not a direct continuation of their associate's degree. It might be due to needing to repeat a class or two in order to succeed at the next level (if the CC course lacked rigor). 

 

If it can be scheduled, it often makes for a hard load of all upper level classes in the major and no electives. Lots of students have trouble managing this. 

 

This is less of a concern if it's manageable to pay for 2 years at CC and 3 years at university. You just have to run the numbers. 

 

Talk about what will happen if it turns into 2+3. Will parents pay the third year, pay for some of it, or will it be entirely on the student? Any of these ways can work, but the student needs to be aware. 

[SebastianCat]

I have a friend who has 3 children who earned their AA during high school, then transferred to a university for their remaining years.   One of her sons had no problems whatsoever, one of her sons is still an undergraduate at the university, but her middle son had some issues.   He was 18 or 19 when he graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.   His original plan was to go to graduate school immediately, but he found that employers (in the particular field he applied) were looking for applicants with a bachelor's degree, who would work for several years before getting their master's degree.   So he was 18 or 19, entering the workforce as a full-time engineer, and he really struggled to find friends at work.   All of the other entry-level engineers were 21 or 22 and social get-togethers after work involved meeting at bars, which he couldn't even enter because of his age.    He's in his early 20's now, and it's not as much of an issue, but it was very difficult at first.

[suzanne4]

My two would not have qualified for their significant scholarships if they had earned their AA degrees. They did go in with a large number of credits (66 and 33), but they did not earn degrees while in high school.  

 

Also, depending on the program chosen, it might not save any time at all at the next college/university. There is often a sequence of courses that is required spanning four/five years (especially in medical/science/engineering programs).  Even if the right courses are taken at the CC, many colleges will not accept them.  Or, in our case, they would accept them, but they still wanted the student there for the entire time. Two out of three colleges that ds applied to would not take time off the program even though his required courses were accepted.  They wanted him to take electives and be there "to mature." Thankfully, the third college, which allowed him to progress using the credits he received at the CC, was also the one that awarded him the huge merit scholarship.  

[MarkT]

My two would not have qualified for their significant scholarships if they had earned their AA degrees. They did go in with a large number of credits (66 and 33), but they did not earn degrees while in high school.  

 

Also, depending on the program chosen, it might not save any time at all at the next college/university. There is often a sequence of courses that is required spanning four/five years (especially in medical/science/engineering programs).  Even if the right courses are taken at the CC, many colleges will not accept them.  Or, in our case, they would accept them, but they still wanted the student there for the entire time. Two out of three colleges that ds applied to would not take time off the program even though his required courses were accepted.  They wanted him to take electives and be there "to mature." Thankfully, the third college, which allowed him to progress using the credits he received at the CC, was also the one that awarded him the huge merit scholarship.  

I think the big gain is now some gen eds are completed allowing the student to choose elective courses more interesting to them.

[kiana]

I think the big gain is now some gen eds are completed allowing the student to choose elective courses more interesting to them.

 

Or sometimes a 4-year bachelor's/master's program. 

[suzanne4]

I think the big gain is now some gen eds are completed allowing the student to choose elective courses more interesting to them.

That would be an advantage, but at over $30 thousand per year for a commuter to the four year  college (that accounts for the highest merit scholarship), it makes more sense to take interesting elective courses at the local CC.  That  would have added almost $70 thousand to his expense if he had chosen that college (and actually much, much more because that was a much more expensive option overall considering the merit he receives at his current college). 

 

Also, with his merit scholarship at the college he is attending, he had to get special permission to take an elective.  He already had all his gen eds completed.  The college does not allow any courses that do not go toward fulfilling gen ed requirements or requirements for a major/minor.  He was caught because he had completed all requirements, yet he needed credits to stay full time. They did make an exception, and he was able to take an elective.  However, with the cost of college, saving a year or two can potentially save a lot of money/loans.  He is in  a combined bachelors/masters program. 

[klmama]

I think the big gain is now some gen eds are completed allowing the student to choose elective courses more interesting to them.

 

Or sometimes a 4-year bachelor's/master's program. 

 

Or having the freedom to pursue a double major.   

[JanetC]

That would be an advantage, but at over $30 thousand per year for a commuter to the four year college (that accounts for the highest merit scholarship), it makes more sense to take interesting elective courses at the local CC.

 

That's assuming the cheap school and the expensive one have the same course catalog, though, right? My kiddo was thrilled with all the new opportunities that opened up after leaving her community college for her four year.