Thursday, October 31, 2013

Community Colleges - A Stepping Stone To University Education

If you are fortunate enough to live in a place where a community college provides classes, then you should make it a point to take advantage of the facility. This can be a great help to further your educational qualifications to advance your career. Community colleges provide some intensive courses in various educational areas. The courses are quite affordable and provide an impressive level of training.Community colleges play an important role in providing affordable education; yet they are considered inferior in comparison to University education. This consideration is quite further from the truth. In fact, a good number of nurses are students of community colleges and are very well trained in their jobs. The associate degree nursing program provided by community colleges are rigorous courses that provide very good clinical experience and comparable to that of the bachelor of nursing degree courses provided by Universities. However, if you possess nursing training from a community college, most hospitals will not consider you a candidate for any administrative nursing position, as this requires a Bachelor's degree.There are many advantages of learning at the community college levels. One biggest advantage is the fact that the teachers at the community college are dedicated to teaching. They are more approachable and helpful to the students. They are not simultaneously working on their own projects and usually devote all their time to teaching at the community college. Students are never considered as an interruption in the pursuit of their own agenda.Community Colleges are a supportive system for those individuals who are going back to academics after a long gap or for those who may not have been getting top grades at high school. The teacher to student ratio is lower in community colleges hence, the teaching faculty can provide personalized attention to the students. This is a great advantage to the students who require extra coaching.Students who complete the two-year degree program at community college are likely to complete their four-year degree. Research indicates that students who start at universities for four-year degrees usually drop out of the course mid way. A two-year community college degree will also help to increase the earning capability of the individual even if he does not complete the four-year degree course.There are some disadvantages associated with community colleges that one should be aware of. Some universities do not accept transfer credits of courses completed at the community colleges. Ensure that you check out the courses required at the university that you plan to transfer to for further education. Another problem could be the availability of certain courses that you may want to do, or the limited number of courses on offer at the community college.In conclusion, the community college education can be a useful, instructive and an affordable option for formal education. It can be considered as a stepping-stone to the higher level of University education.