The Overlooked Benefits of an Associate’s Degree

The option of community college may have been looked down upon in the past, but it can be a smart, strategic decision for even high academic achievers. YAKOBCHUK V/Shutterstock

Today, most high school students are pushed onto the standard track of preparing for college. Though there is increased appreciation for other paths like entrepreneurship and tradesmanship, a four-year college experience is still the goal for the vast majority.

Students are advised to make decisions throughout their high school career that will impress college admissions offices and maximize their admissions opportunities. For many students, this becomes the driving motivator of their activities and efforts throughout their high school years.

High school seniors and their families painstakingly jump through the many hoops of the college application process, along with the financial aid application process, and await decisions upon their fate. When the dust settles, they’re usually offered acceptance into some of their choice schools and are then faced with varying financial decisions that may lead to substantial debt. They quickly pick a school and then head off to their new dorm and home for the next four years.

Most people seem to believe that this is the only option, that if you want the full college experience and a well-known university on your resume, this is the only way to do it. But it’s not the only way. The option of community college may have been looked down upon in the past, but it can be a smart, strategic decision for even high academic achievers.

Academically Comparable

The first two years of most college degrees center on general studies and are similar across most colleges. A student who knows what four-year college he or she would like to apply to can identify the core curriculum requirements and take those classes at their local community college. After earning an associate’s degree, they can apply to a four-year university as a transfer student, entering typically as a college junior. They can then focus on their major studies and graduate with the same name brand school they would have if they had spent all four years there.

Some may believe that the quality of those first two years of classes might be very different, but the truth is that many community college professors teach the exact same classes at nearby four-year schools. The quality, for the most part, is comparable. Sometimes, the community college class is even better because the professor is engaged in a labor of love, whereas his four-year counterpart is focused mostly on research and only going through the motions of administering a class.

The College Experience

Four years of college can easily cost a student or their family $100,000 or more. A large portion of that cost goes toward room and board. College dorms are growing ever more luxurious, featuring air-conditioned suites, on-site gyms, kitchen and laundry facilities, and more. Many of these college students are covering the cost of these luxuries with debt they’ll be saddled with for decades.

The so-called “college experience” has become a right of passage for many. However, it’s not a requirement for a college degree.

Community college students forgo this experience for the first two years, missing things like temptations to engage in partying and unhealthy behaviors, along with taking on the demands of college classes while adjusting to a new living environment, and they save thousands of dollars doing it.

Work Through School

For many students, choosing community college can mean also maintaining a job and investing their earnings while they attend school instead of putting it all toward tuition. The financial benefit of this choice compounds in such cases, making college debt seem almost silly. Adding the financial cherry on top, many states offer tax benefits to community college students and their families, in which they can deduct tuition and related college expenses like books.

Valuable Time

The first two years after high school are formative years. It can be a great advantage for a student to make his or her way through adulthood with family close by and with time to consider next steps. While attending a community college, such a student may dabble in an entrepreneurial venture or hone a special skill.

The choice of community college can allow some buffer time for a young man or woman to progress in their studies while also investing in their future and deepening their ties with their families and local communities. They can then head off to the four-year school and graduate with the same degree as their peers, but with a much more solid foundation. The associate’s degree has been overlooked for a long time, but students and families are now wising up.