Community college to four-year institution: what you need to know

social media buttons

Attending a community college can be a wise choice, but if you don’t plan ahead you could lose time and money. If you eventually plan on attending a four year college or university, you’ll have to plan your classes carefully.


The first thing to consider is general requirements. Every school has different gen eds. Perhaps you only need to take one math class for one school but two for another. You won’t want to waste your time taking more than you need.


Each school has a different policy for which classes they’ll accept. If a four year college or university has an open relationship with community colleges, it will be very easy to transfer classes. They may even have a list of which classes they’ll grant credit for. Some will allow you to count that AP class you took in high school and you might not even need to take certain courses at all. Others may have strict requirements for transferring credits. You don’t want to end up taking all those classes just to find out they don’t transfer.


It’s hard to plan if you don’t have a goal. If your ultimate goal is attending a four year school, have a college or university in mind so you can plan ahead.


One thing you can do is apply to schools that allow you to defer enrollment. What you would do is apply to four year colleges or universities your senior year, choose the one you’d like to attend, and defer your enrollment. This means you are already accepted into the school, but you’ll be attending a year later. You can then use that year to take classes at a community college. This way you know exactly where you’ll be going so there’s no guessing which classes will transfer.


With a little planning, community college could save you thousands of dollars. Just don’t forget to consider where you’ll be going afterwards.

 

>>9 reasons to choose a community college

 

>>4 ways to find out if it's the right college