Frazz by Jef Mallett for February 19, 2023

True enough. Few, if any community college degrees are bought by the students rich parents. Something more common to happen at big name schools.

CCs have a whole different mission than Universities: They serve the (ahem) community more or less directly and immediately. Universities serve the society of universities more or less directly. Both important, but for different reasons. Our CC serves to let locals get the first two years of a 4 year degree for a LOT less money. It teaches practical skills from book keeping to carpentry to nursing and more. And it takes up where highschool left off for the folks who just want a little more… and who need to take courses outside regular working hours. We have one of each in our slightly extended community and it’s VERY clear that they coexist well by filling in the weak spots in each other’s system.

Depends on where a CC is located. Larger populations can support them. And they are somewhat more able to expand offerings to match new tech or occupational lines as they appear. Rural CCs are dependent on a much smaller population and the courses offerings are correspondingly fewer. In addition, rural students are just as likely to overlook CCs in the hype from 4+year schools.

As to price increases, the wage-price spiral affects wages and costs for CCs as much as it does any other business. It is endemic and unlikely to change. And, of course, there is always the added bloat where the salaries of the board and senior staff are in competition with competing CCx, just as it is at the university level.

CCs are a good choice for the first 2 years out of high school for many. Otherwise they would not still exist.

I went to college decades ago and flunked out. They were no help either just wanted the tuition. Many years later I went to a community college to get a degree and they were amazing. Very willing to help me with what I needed to graduate. After I graduated with a 3.75, I went back the the original college and some snot nosed kid looked down on me and said they might not take me. Of course they got the money and there was no problem but I was disappointed in the instruction. I was taking a calculus class and we spent most of it on basic math and algebra. About 2 weeks were calculus. Also the parking was horrible and I didn’t bother to continue. The degree I got from community college sufficed to get a good job.

Community colleges would get more respect if they stuck to teaching blue collar skills. Many colleges in Canada require students to include a General Education course. After retirement, I taught geology as a Gen Ed course, and was criticized for including too many facts. The example I was given to aspire to: “Don’t give them all the facts about earthquakes. Just tell them there is an active fault line through town; and ask them how that makes them feel.”

Wish more credit was given to Community (Jr. Colleges) and to Vo-Tech High Schools. Thanks Frazz and Jef for bringing up about community colleges. Needed to be said and you said it very well.

40 years ago, Rutgers was held in such high regard that many people outside of NJ did not realize it wasn’t an Ivy League school.

Now, I wonder how much they’ve had to lower their academic standards to fit in with the likes of the THE Ohio State Youth Correctional Facility (of Gym Jordan fame), Michigan Dept of Corrections and Penn (Pedo?) State Vocational School (it literally started as a vo-tech high school).

For everyone who screams that the cost of an education at a university is so outrageous: No one said you had to go all 4 years at a university. I took all of my prerequisites at a community college (where it was actually free at the time for residents of the city it was in), and then transferred to the university for the core requirements for my major. Much, much cheaper, and I didn’t have a student loan amount that broke the bank. Why don’t more people go this route, rather than attend all 4 years at an way-too expensive university?

Even this conversation is elitist.

Educating people doesn’t give me an undeserved smug sense of superiority like I get when my team wins.

The community colleges I’m familiar with in my state each has a specialty you can’t get at a 4-year school. One with a music major has concerts which draw large audiences and sends its formal music grads to top-flight schools like Crane and Eastman, and has a jazz program widely known and respected. It also has a food service major which puts its students into restaurant kitchens for hands-on experience they could never get in a 4-year school.

This is drawn while they are playing basketball rather than playing chess. Where is the outrage?

Community College graduate — probably got more real, solid education there in my first two years than in all the university time I spent.

Well said but they still deserve more respect. They can enable someone, like a close friend, to graduate with an Ivy league degree with half the debt! They are not for underachievers but for those who may be less interested in appearances than long term goals,

Um, I’m trying to figure out the problem here. You’ve turned on the TV to a basketball game, and all anybody is talking about are the basketball teams? Isn’t that pretty much what you expect when you’re watching a basketball game?

A couple of coworkers were discussing sending their kids to college and one excluded a college because he didn’t like their football team. I asked it his son played football. No, he was going to be an engineer but the guy knew nothing about their engineering programs. He was upset when I called him an idiot.

I didn’t start college until after my first re-enlistment. I began studying at Tacoma Community College working toward an Electrical Engineering degree. But that was just a place to start. The two associate degrees I ended up with are both thru the Community College of the Air Force (in my time enlisted could get degrees related to their work specialties). I continued work toward an undergrad degree though that ended up being a BS in Computer Science because moving around so much made it hard to continue the engineering degree. And shortly before I retired from the service I managed to finish off with a graduate degree (MS in Information Systems)… and all without any debt. Taking one or two classes a term (when I wasn’t off on a TDY) and paying as I went, plus tuition assistance and GI Bill, meant no long term debt.

Community Colleges are an outstanding educational option. Also, military service and assorted assistance programs made it easy for me to finish four degrees without any outstanding debt. I don’t know if that’s still true today but I’d sure like to believe it’s so.