Five Myths About Community Colleges - MSN Encarta

Five Myths About Community Colleges - MSN Encarta

I run into the "snob factor" frequently as a Tech Prep coordinator at my school. Our local community college offers free credit for articulated high school classes with matching objectives. I've had parents and even staff look unfavorably upon the community college as kind of a 2nd class school.

I was a teaching assistant at a University, and I've been and instructor at a community college. Yes, there are differences in the instruction of the academic transfer or "gen ed" courses in these two institutions.

While the University employed individuals with doctorates, lower-level classes are taught in over-crowded lecture halls, many times not by those with the pedigrees, but by teaching graduate assistants. In contrast, academic transfer classes at a community college are taught by individuals with a master's degree (at least 18 of their graduate credit hours are in the area of instruction), and the class sizes are small and personal (10-30 students depending on the class). Smaller classes + educated instructors = superior instruction of academic transfer courses at the community college compared to that at the University.

The best difference? The cost! The community college currently charges about $60 per credit; the university charges about $160. Let's say a student attends a community college for two years, carefully selecting 48 credit hours of academic transfer courses. They'd pay $2880 at the community college compared to $7200 at the university.

I do get a nominal stipend for being the Tech Prep coordinator, but I'd applaud community colleges anyway. You can bet my kids will be taking advantage of their offerings!