I think it would help if states would devise a high-school system, where you could ‘graduate’ by the end of the 11th grade, and proceed onto a local community college. I think 60-percent of kids are ready for it, and that entire last year of high school is worthless.
My kids were told that we would help them if they did the 2+2 approach. My son did his first 2 and got accepted at CNU. He’s finishing his Junior year and is shipping out to the Marine Corps (reserves) for summer boot camp. He then will return for his final year. Upon completion he hopes to apply to OCS. He has worked hard to make this happen!
Yep. Pretty much any young adult can take a job as a burger flipper or latte server, then take two community college classes three times a year while they’re at it. In 28 months they can have a vocational two-year degree.
Or they at that point can be ready to transfer all those credits to their state college — and in 28 more months have a four-year degree by following the same path.
For those of you paying attention, that is a four-year degree in four years and eight months. The standard for measuring graduation with such at a regular vacation-style college now is six years.
I ask you, which young adult is going to be more mature and employable at that point? No reason they couldn’t continue on to graduate school if that were their interest as well.
If they wanted to build something of a financial cushion, they could stay home through their community college period, at least, though pairing up in a modest apartment near their college should work as well.
We have all we need for closing down the taxpayer grants and lending spigot now, and ending the student loan “crisis” immediately. Likewise, we have available to students what they need as a foot in the door for skilled employment, without having Ivanka and Ross line up loads of bogus new-hiring and apprenticeship claims from big corporations. And yes, big corps are perfectly capable of communicating their hiring priorities to said community colleges on their own, too.
Cheaper crap is still crap.
I’m not one to harp on a whole group of people and characterize them all a certain way but I guess I’m going to do it this time. I hear way too much whining from younger people about ‘the cost of college’. It’s obviously not anecdotal either because so many Presidential candidates are responding to it.
AOC said in one interview that her generation (the millennials) have never known prosperity in their lifetime. When I heard this clip I was flabbergasted. If you are under 30 and live in America, all you have known in your lifetime is prosperity. This type of whining really turns me off.
Back to the college, there are so many ways to go to college and not accrue tremendous debt. You can join the military. The benefits of the New GI Bill is so much more than the pittance they used to offer 35 - 40 years ago (after Vietnam and that GI Bill was over with) it is like night and day. After four years of active service, your GI Bill benefits will practically pay for most major colleges, plus give you a stipend while you’re going.
There is going to a community college as the article suggests. In my state (Pennsylvania) you can transfer up to 60 credits from a community college to any of the state schools. That is usually half of the credits you need as it usually takes 120 - 125 credits to graduate most majors. The community college also may get you into the workforce without going to a major university. I’m not talking about a burger flipper job, I’m talking about a career.
Last but certainly not least, there are the trades. We have a shortage of HVAC Techs, plasterers, carpenters, mechanics, plumbers etc... Companies are dying to hire guys/gals with the right credentials to do this work. It’s a career that you can build around and make good money and raise a family.
In short, the best thing the Marine Corps ever did for me was to take me to so many of the worlds $hitholes so I can be truly thankful for how good I have it in America.
The AA should be the required track to getting a B.A. The 4 year schools could start conferring them as part of the pathway.
Online courses can also help. My daughter saved a lot of money by taking them. No expensive facilities needed. Less room for leftist extra-curricular propaganda when communications must be in writing. The prof doesn’t even need to know what the student looks like or whose paper is being graded.
It’s a smart move. Get the required bs oit if the way and transfer when you’re ready. Why pay a big University for humanities classes?
I have a former colleague who earned his Bachelors Degree at the University of Wisconsin, and then went back for some professional development classes at CCAC.
He told me that the quality of the instruction at CCAC was better than Wisconsin, and he actually learned more.
2 years at CC reduces many expenses, especially if you're still living at home.
It also reduces the party environment and affords an opportunity for full or part time work.
Then when you've grown up a bit, you're more likely to take years 3 and 4 more seriously.
We complain about the lack of trade people. Marco Rubio’s best moment in his presidential campaign was when he observed in one of the debates that “we need more welders and fewer philosophers.” he was right about that particular point.
What if someone established a community college and a network of trade schools tied together under one roof, under a single umbrella? It would be a different kind of institution from the standard university, but it would serve some of teh same purposes.