What is college?

[elegantlion]

Can we have a thread where we define the different ways a student can get into and attend college and what degrees are available? I've seen this in a few places lately where college is this singular word meant to define all post high school experiences. Such as "How will my child get into college?" It can be as nebulous as saying you want to homeschool. There are so many ways to approach that question, all depending upon your child, their goals, location, and finances. 

 

Maybe a mapping of the different college paths that are available. 

 

For instance:  My son attends a non-competitive regional state university, is studying for his bachelor's degree, but will have to transfer to another university to finish his degree. He needed a transcript and ACT score to be accepted. 

 

It's early and the coffee is still working its way into my brain. Maybe this would be better as a lexicon kind of thread, where certain terms are defined such as AA, BA, community college. 

[Joules]

I can edit this later if it doesn't fit the plan, but I've wanted to mention it.

In Georgia, we have an excellent system of vocational/technical schools.  I'm not sure what to search for to find this in other states.  These schools are legitimate alternatives to schools like ITT.  Dual enrollment and Hope scholarships are available.  This is considered college here, but is not traditional live-in-the-dorms LAC or Uni.  Here is a link:

https://tcsg.edu

I'd love to know what the comparable is in other states.

[Dmmetler]

My state currently has a program that pays for community college, and a pretty good set of 2 year transfer paths that completion with grades at X level in Y classes are guaranteed to transfer to state colleges. Doing that can really reduce the cost of a 4 year degree.

[Guest]

College is becoming part of high school, via dual enrollment or early college high schools. Zip code matters as far as any individual's opportunity to access the nonresidential options.

[J-rap]

My ds went to a non-traditional arts-type college in NYC after taking a year off after high school to travel.  He stopped with this school after a year, to pursue his career even more non-traditionally.  After another year, we had our family emergency so he moved back to our area with his new wife, getting a pretty decent job.  When his company laid off employees due to budget cuts, he lost his job, but was offered a state grant that paid for schooling so people who were recently unemployed could learn new skills.  He decided he wanted to take advantage of this and start plugging away at getting a more practical degree then, which he could do part-time and almost completely online, at a tiny vo-tech type school.   When he reached the limits at that school (so did not yet have a BA), he transferred to a big state college in the same area.  He was able to transfer most of his classes from former schools, even the arts college.  It took him another year and a half, but he finally got his degree.  

 

So his "college" was a real hodgepodge, and he never had the experience of living on-campus and doing typical college stuff.  But, he has his degree.

 

Two of my dd's had/have a more traditional college experience, though one dd decided to do all four years completely in Central America, where private colleges are very inexpensive and where she met her husband.  :)

 

[Bluegoat]

Here in Canada people don't really talk about going to college very much.

 

Where Americans say "college" we usually say university.  Some universities might have smaller colleges within them.  Universities are degree granting institutions, mostly public ones - we have few private universities.

 

We have "community colleges" which are typically like a trade or technical school. They tend to grant diplomas and other kinds of certifications.

 

Then there are "career colleges" which are usually rather expensive private schools that do not grant degrees but diplomas of some kind - they vary pretty widely in quality.

[FaithManor]

Paramedic School? That is one option that is not typical college but college level post high school education.

 

We have a CC here that offers a two year welding tech program. I think it is an AA plus a professional licensing program.

 

St. Clair County has a culinary school that I'm told is quite good. I girl we know locally went their and had an emphasis in pastry. She works in NYC now doing her favorite thing, making amazing pastries and confections. She seems to be employed well enough to enjoy living single in Manhatten.

 

Some comp sci certifications and licenses can be procurred through the companies that own those programming languages. Java and Oracle come to mind. Now that said, while there are definitely people who work with DH who have professional licensing but not a BS in comp sci, there is a ceiling with his company for advancement without the BS. 

 

I don't know of any more in our area. It has pretty limited options.

 

Americorps

Military

Construction and automotive apprenticeships - these tend to start in high school with students who attend the Tech Center and then a local business takes the post-graduate on at nominal pay for a training period before they become full time employees with higher wages.

Electrical Journeyman

[Jenny in Florida]

I've been pondering these questions, too.

 

My son, although very academically capable, has never liked "school." He loves to learn, but the minute you put that learning into anything like a formal academic framework, he begins to see it as a chore and loses interest.

 

I've long been torn about how to encourage or guide him. He's by no means a slacker. He likes to work and throws himself into things when he cares or finds them valuable. He's also really, really smart and gets excellent grades when he makes the slightest effort. We feel strongly that we want him to have a degree -- having dealt for years with the limitations on my husband's career that result from him not having one -- but my idealistic little soul rebels at the idea of forcing him to march through college solely in pursuit of a piece of paper.

 

He started down the traditional path, albeit early, with a year of gen-ed dual enrollment at the local community college before heading to a four-year private university two years ago. He had felt very strongly about choosing a small-ish liberal arts school, and it seemed like a good fit. We completely supported his decision to go after a BFA in performing arts, which seemed like a decent compromise, allowing him to do what he loved while still ending up with a formal academic credential. 

 

Things went reasonably well the first year, but he was less excited for year two. He got increasingly frustrated with the lack of great training options available in his areas of primary interest (specifically dance) and with the very limited opportunity for him to explore the technical aspects of theatre (only one formal class available and no degrees or minors). Plus, especially as he settled into a pretty solid relationship with his girlfriend -- I tease them about acting like a little, old married couple sometimes -- he lost patience with the party-focused social scene on campus. 

 

He's now moved back home and is doing a transitional year back at the community college. His plan is to fill in some gaps to complete an associate's and a certificate in entertainment tech, then transfer into the stage design and tech program at the local state university. 

 

I'm thrilled to see him happy and engaged in his community college classes this semester. However, this path he's on has some risk: Specifically, the program he wants to get into at the university is small, and while it's technically possible to transfer in mid-way, it's a BFA program and is really designed for students who start at the beginning and follow a prescribed four-year path. There is no other, similar program within commuting distance of our house. And the only way it works for him to take the extra year to make this switch is for him to live at home and attend a public university. (That way, the total cost for one year of community college plus two at the university is roughly equivalent to what it was costing us out of pocket to keep him at the private university for two years.)

 

If he doesn't get into the program of his choice at the university, I'm really not sure what the back-up plan is. 

 

And I don't sleep well when there's no back-up plan.

 

I keep thinking there must be some obvious alternative we've overlooked so far, 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2016 by Jenny in Florida

[elegantlion]

Thank you all for understanding the morning haze of my posting. Even in these few posts, there is such a diversity of paths. 

 

When I started considering looking at college for ds, I felt overwhelmed as I had never been in college. Since I started my own college classes while he was in high school, I felt I had a better grasp on what the process entailed. I hope this thread will be helpful to people who need the information. I know we tend to have these conversations kind of spread out over many threads. Part of my goal is to make it clear that there are many paths to further education. It's so hard to figure out which path to follow when you're looking at teaching a high school freshman and trying to guide their path or help them find one, but the term "college" does not have to be scary. There is no sorting hat for college. 

 

The scary part for me has been letting go and allowing ds to guide those choices. While homeschooling middle and early high school, it was pretty much my choice. College is more about their choices, except perhaps the finances. And back-up plans, as Jenny said, I think those are important too and scary sometimes.