// Love the TCC Trinity River Campus, it's so modern and the location is perfectly smashed between the river and downtown. //
Hey y'all, I really wanted to write a post with a little bit about my college experience so far. And the reason why, is because I was helping one of my best friends go through the application, scholarship, etc. process and realized that if current students would help out the freshmen more, the first year or so wouldn't be nearly as difficult as it is, just to learn the about the small details.
Okay, so first here's a glance at my background right before college. My high school experience was very different from most; besides being homeschooled and going to a co-op, I was dealing with depression and tons and tons of stress from several different things outside of school. Because of that I was super worried and stressed out about college. I only applied to one school, Texas Christian University (TCU) and after them not giving me a yes or no, I went to the admissions office and was told to right to my face that they really weren't looking for 'white girls', because they were wanting to become a little bit more diversified. Hahaha, obviously that didn't help my decision for going to college.
After that episode, I was put on their waiting list and didn't get in. So because of that I ended up not attending college that fall. But knew that if I waited any longer to get in to college and earn my degree, I probably never would and obviously regret that decision the rest of my life.
I am eternally grateful for my mom, she kind of pushed me and lead me through the process of getting accepted and enrolled at Tarrant County College (TCC) for the following semester, Spring 2014. It was because I started college at that point, that I'm were I am now; over half way done with my bachelor degree in General Business at Tarleton State University (TSU). (Although I have to say right now, I wish I could have stayed at TCC longer... but that's a whole other story.)
So this brings us to the question: Community College or University?
I originally was dead set on going to a University, I wanted out and away from home. However, I wasn't wanting to leave Texas, because a) I love Texas, it's in my heart and soul and b) I'm southern, I need the warm sun on my skin, and know I would die if I lived up north. Now don't get me wrong, I love to travel and I completely enjoy the winter and snow, but I wouldn't want to live with it 4 or more months a year. Down here we are lucky to get snow/ice maybe once a year and that makes a happy, joyous occasion and we don't get tired of it. Ah hahahaha, enough about weather, the point was I didn't want to leave Texas, but I really wanted to leave home. But because I was in a bad place during the application time, I only applied to TCU before the deadlines ended. Otherwise, my college experience could have looked very different, than what it is. I very easily could have ended up at Tech or A&M.
(Part of the inside, main street as it's called.)
Now with that being said there are pros and cons to both:
Community College -
Pros:
- Inexpensive - and by inexpensive I mean extremely inexpensive. TCC for instance is over 20x cheaper than TCU. Now this changes depending on where you live and which colleges you are looking at, but as far as tuition, it is definitely the cheaper route.
- Professors - In most cases they aren't trying to fail you, they are really trying to help you be successful, so you can graduate and transfer. At most universities, some of the core classes are set up as a way for them to sift through the freshmen and sophomores, to make sure they really are up for the challenges of that university and that's all great and wonderful, for the university, but not for the student. I mean you are paying thousands of dollars for a teacher who is trying to fail you? Doesn't make much sense. (I am NOT saying that all university professors are like that!)
- Room and Board - If you have wonderful parents, who don't mind you living at home for a couple more years, it's one less expense for you to worries about and just focus on paying for the actual costs of college: tuition, fees, books and supplies.
Cons:
- Location - I mean changes are you aren't living on campus, so you have to travel every class day to the campus for class and group meeting, etc. So you do have to think about the location of it. For me, TCC has over 6 locations in the district. But I haven't just gone to the one that's literally 10 minutes away from me, one semester I was going to one of the other campuses that was around 35 minutes away, four times a week. That adds up for transportation cost and if I didn't leave at a certain point, there wasn't much point in going to class, because I would be super late and would miss most of it.
- Transferring - Because it is only community college, you can stay up to a certain point, eventually if you want anything higher than an AA Degree, you will have to pick a university to transfer to and some people don't like the idea of dealing with application and enrollment process more than once. However, most community colleges have partnerships with local universities around your state and that makes the transfer process easier. Plus transfer students are highly valued by most universities! Another issues is you will have to keep up with making sure the college you are wanting to transfer to will accept all of your credits; some universities can be picky about the classes they will accept.
University -
Pros:
- Community - This is the one reason I wish I was at a big university, because I wanted to be apart of different campus groups and organizations.
- Same Place - Basically if the university is the perfect fit for you, than you won't have to worry about transferring to another place to earn your degree. However, I know plenty of my friends have switched universities, because they ended up changing their degree and the college they were attending didn't offer it or they realized it just wan't the right place for them. Both of those can be extremely costly mistakes, which can't always be avoided.
Cons:
- Costs - As mentioned above in the community college pros, the cost of attending and living at a university is absolutely ridiculous and no one should have to be thinking of spending that kind of money for schooling. However, if you are lucky and get enough scholarships, grants and maybe even the luck of parents who are willing to help you out with the cost, the cost wouldn't be such an issue. But it you are like me, putting myself through college, then the cost of a four year university can be quite daunting and scary. I certainly don't want to graduate with a special piece of paper and over $100,000 in student loans.
- Transport - Every year you will have to pack up and move out of the dorms, so plan on the cost of moving at least 4-5 times before you graduate. Plus depending on the distance between college and home, add-in the expense of visiting home for holidays and weekends for four years.
If you can think of any more pro's or con's for either community college or university, than feel free to add them to the comments!!
Now I've got three other college posts coming up, and I'll trying to remember to add the link to this post!
Coming Soon! Admissions & Registration.
Coming Soon! Financial Aid & Random Stuff to Know About!
Coming Soon! Transferring to a University.
XOXO,
Suzanne Myers
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