Final Deciding Factors on Choosing Your Community College

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If you have followed all the suggestions above, you now have full and complete information about your community college of interest. Here are a few final suggestions.

Drive It

Drive to the community college and see how long it takes you. Or, try to reach it by public transportation and see if the commute is reasonable. You'd be surprised how many students find transportation becomes an unexpected challenge that can interfere with on-time and regular attendance.

By driving there or checking out how long the bus or train takes, you'll be ahead of the game and will be prepared to factor that into your planning. You'll also want to check on the availability (and expense) of parking, or how long (and safe) the walk to campus is from the bus or subway stop or parking lot.

If the drive is too long, see if dorms are available or if the campus can direct you to affordable off-campus housing. Find out also what types of distance learning options are available.

Trust Your Instincts

Among the many factors to consider when you are selecting a college or deciding to enroll is your gut-level feeling about what's right for you. When you walk onto a campus, you should have a positive feeling that you'll be pleased to spend two years of your time and money there.

Karen Freeman, valedictorian of her high school class and graduate of Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Mississippi, says, "Having attended summer classes at a four-year college between my junior and senior year in high school, I knew what it was like to be on a big campus and in large classes. I could have had a full-tuition scholarship there, but I decided that Copiah-Lincoln was right for me. It was close to home, my parents and brothers all had good experiences there, and they offered me a great financial package. Copiah-Lincoln also had a reputation for its excellent science programs. All those factors made me realize that community college was the right place for me to be at that time of my life. I'm now enrolled in a pharmacy program at Ole Miss, where I was one of the top five applicants to the program."

Find Out More

• www.pathwaystocollege.net has an online database of over 1,100 pre-college outreach programs including those at community colleges.
• Sallie Mae, a corporate provider of federally guaranteed student loans, has a Web site at www.collegeanswer.com that offers excellent information about planning to attend college, including a discussion about various types of colleges, specific information about types of colleges, timelines, checklists, and good common-sense advice. Specific information about community college is offered.