Community colleges are an overlooked option

Congratulations to the high school graduating class of 2016. You deserve praise for your achievement and are no doubt excited about the future that lies before you.

I’d like to offer a special congrats to those among you who have made what could turn out to be a very wise choice. A certain percentage of your graduating class will soon be attending a local community college, and while that might not elicit the hoops and hollers of a brand-name, nationally ranked university, if handled responsibly it might just be one of the best decisions these students ever make.

The case for community colleges these days is pretty darn compelling.

First, there’s the price tag.

Consider that the average tuition for four-year institutions is more than $31,000 a year. As a result of the high cost of higher education, more than two-thirds of college graduates this year carry student-loan debt, with the average per-student debt load ringing in at about $35,000. Total student loan debt now exceeds $1.2 trillion nationwide.

That makes the more than 40% of this year’s high school graduates who are bound for community colleges look rather smart. California residents pay just $46 per unit at their local community colleges, meaning that many students pay somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 a year, depending on the number and types of courses they take.

As Dennis Gordon, director of outreach and recruiting at Irvine Valley College, says, “That’s a helluva savings.”

But any good shopper knows that a bargain is only worth it in the long run if the product is of sufficient quality. Indeed, many aspiring collegians assume that the rule of “you get what you pay for” holds true in the academic world, and so are lured in by the pitches of prestige institutions and their expensive degrees.

While there can be a measure of truth to those claims, there’s also plenty of evidence that the value of those fancy degrees is oftentimes overrated, while the caliber of community college education can be underestimated. More important, however, is that students need to realize that there isn’t just one route to get where they’re going, and that for many the best way forward might include a stop at a community college.

Let’s be frank. Many kids simply didn’t make the grades in high school that would earn them admission to the four-year colleges to which they might be attracted. That doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t intelligent or didn’t try. Some might have had one bad year that trashed their GPAs, or avoided the more difficult college-oriented classes because they didn’t yet have the maturity or academic foundation to handle them.

Other kids might simply feel unready for the four-year college experience and prefer to live at or near home while working toward a more approachable target. Some probably feel too uncertain about their long-term goals and figure that completing their basic requirements at a community college will give them time and additional experience so that they can make more informed decisions when choosing a major.

Still others might know what they want, but see a community college as a good place to meet their needs. Future firefighters, mechanics, computer technicians, healthcare workers, paralegals, fitness professionals, electricians and many others can earn certifications or associate degrees that will prepare them for the next step in their training, education or professional goals.

For those who have their sights set on graduating from a Cal State or UC campus, many community colleges in California can help with that too, through guaranteed transfer programs for students who achieve certain grade levels and other requirements.

Irvine Valley College, for instance, boasts that it has the second-highest transfer rate to four-year universities out of the state’s 113 community colleges. Many of its students continue with their studies at UC Irvine, for example, or even UCLA, through a special honors program designed for motivated, high-achieving students who meet certain standards.

“This is Plan B,” said IVC’s Gordon. “It’s another way of getting there.”

Right about now some readers might be thinking, “Hold on a minute, Patrice. You’re always telling us about your two sons, both of whom chose to attend big four-year universities right after high school, and you’re incessantly preaching about the benefits of the college experience. Aren’t you dissembling a bit now by praising the virtues of community colleges?”

To this I would reply that everyone is different. Students absolutely should go straight into a four-year college if that is their ambition, they feel ready for the challenge and they have a viable plan for paying the bills.

But for some, community college is an excellent alternative, and students who choose that option should hold their heads high. Many successful people got their higher-education start at community colleges. They had to work as hard — in some cases harder — as their university counterparts, not get distracted, and set goals that were at once realistic and aspirational.

No matter where they’re headed this fall, all students should realize that it isn’t where you go to college that matters most, it’s what you do when you get there. And it’s not where you start out but where you end up that will ultimately define you.

Good luck to the Class of ’16.

PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.