One of America’s best-kept secrets might not be so much a secret as much as an often-overlooked, unsung hero in the landscape of higher education. That secret? The community college.

Perhaps part of what makes the American college system the envy of the world is the fact that there is such a wide breadth of options—and levels of accessibility—for anyone who wants access to a college experience and education. Community colleges; public state universities; private colleges; Liberal Arts schools; colleges that focus on research and development; schools that focus on arts; or vocational training. You name it and American colleges and universities probably offer it (and to a wider audience of learners than in perhaps most other areas around the world).

Below, I will spend some time discussing fourteen reasons why community colleges can be wonderful options for many students, and will also share a few of my own experiences as a former community college student (and graduate), with those remarks being italicized for organizational purposes and clarity.

1. Community Colleges Always Say ‘Yes’:

What better place to start than to champion the idea (and reality) that anyone who wants to go to college 100% absolutely can! Sound too good to be true? It isn’t. Where four-year colleges have various rates of selectively (and, consequently, who they ultimately say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to), community colleges are in the business of providing an open educational environment for learning that does not turn away students who want to do just that. For learners who want to simplify the process for continuing their studies after high school, the community college system offers a streamlined, straightforward option for providing quality education for two—and sometimes even three or more—years of study for a student.

Want to spend just one year at a community college? Students can do that, as well. Want to start off at a four-year college, but take summer classes at your local community college? Yes, you guessed it: You can do that, too.

I sometimes have students who believe that they cannot get into a college (mainly, for lower grades, but sometimes for other reasons, as well). This gives me an opportunity to detail my own experiences as a former community college student, and to also share with them how they can leverage a community college educational experience to reach all of their academic hopes, dreams, goals, and ambitions.

2. Cheaper Costs:

This idea easily could be the number-one factor for many students (and families) interested in a solid college education (but while also skimping on some of the ever-increasing costs of a college degree—particularly for a bachelors degree or higher). Community college tuition costs tend to be a fraction of the cost of tuition at an average four-year college or university. What fraction might that be? Try 1/3rd of the cost (at the lowest end of savings) all the way up to 1/20th of the annual tuition costs of their four-year counterparts (when considering in such factors as in-state verses out-of-state, and public verses private colleges and universities).

 If most freshmen-level (and sophomore-level) students are taking mostly various combinations of General Education credits, what is the difference between Psychology 101 at the local community college and, say, a state university? Little, if you ask me. Psychology is still psychology; or English Composition is still English Composition wherever a student decides to go to college.

3. “Try-Out” College With Fewer Risks:

This particular point might be something that would not be an issue for those motivated, ambitious students that know exactly what they want to study and have a plan for reaching each of their academic (and, eventual, vocational) goals and ambitions throughout their time in college. However, if we expect most 17 year-olds or 18 year-olds to know exactly how they want to set up the next several decades of their lives, we might create undue anxiety and unintended consequences that are expecting of them to have everything lined up just perfectly in their first and second years of college. How to better safeguard against that? Start college with lower risk.

A community college is the perfect learning environment to trial-run, or try-out, college. A student might arrive on Day #1 not knowing at all what they want to study, but may really connect with a dynamic, supportive professor or fall in love with a particular class. This can (and does sometimes) absolutely happen, of course, at four-year colleges, as well. But as scores of students and families will reason: Why spend untold tens of thousands of extra dollars to hope that a student has a divine spark of inspiration during the first year or two of college and figures out exactly what they want to study, and what particular career or pathway that they want to seek?

Please hear this (if you take nothing else from this article): College is an expensive experiment, and experience, if a student does not know what they want to do while in school. Students and families can hedge their bets against uncertainty; lower levels of motivation; apathy; and academic paralysis, etc. by spending the first year or two of college at a community college.

4. Great Option For Late-Bloomers:

One does not have to look very far in our society to find examples of inspirational individuals and leaders who did not have it all figured out while in high school (or even when they first started college), including many of those same late-blooming individuals who struggled with earning good grades in high school and middle school. For students that did not earn the types of grades in high school that reflect their true abilities and capabilities, a community college can offer them a fresh start to establish an official college grade point average (GPA), build up their academic skills (and also perhaps their self-confidence, too, in the process), and then compete with their peers—often on equal footing—a year or two later at their selected four-year college or university. Community colleges can also be great learning environments for overlooked students; students wanting to get away from ultra-competitive learning environments; or students who do not want all the “bells and whistles” of a traditional-style college experience.

5. Smaller Classes Sizes:

Four-year colleges and universities love to talk about the small class sizes that they purportedly offer; likewise, students and families love to hear about classes where professors are accessible and are able to know individual student needs. However—especially during the first two years of college—freshman and sophomore-level classes are often the unofficial “money-makers” for 4-year schools, who can pack in 50, 100, 200—or even more—students into each class. At many four-year schools, students sometimes won’t see anything close to smaller class sizes until their upperclassmen years (when students are typically taking classes in their specific program of study and degree area).

Community college classes, on the other hand, often look much similar to the normal sizes of high school courses—and not only that, but here’s the next advantage that often matches along nicely with those smaller classes, and it’s a good one….

6. Be Taught by Actual Professors:

This is perhaps one of the most taken-for-granted aspects of community colleges: Students are taught by actual professors with Master’s Degrees (or higher), with some of those same instructors sometimes also having valuable work experience in high-demand, or highly-appealing, industries. What is more, many community college professors often have direct knowledge, links, and connections to the types of desirable jobs and industries that students are most interested in pursuing after college.

A number of underclassmen classes at four-year schools are taught, in part, or mostly, by Graduate Assistants or Teacher Assistants (often not much older than the underclassman students, themselves), while many four-year college and university professors are busy pursuing their true passion (which isn’t often teaching, but): research. Most community college professors are professors because they love to teach. Research is not typically done at the community college level, so professors that are truly passionate about teaching are able to do just that (and that is something that should appeal to all students).

Because of this reason, I actually felt that, in many ways, I received a superior education during my first two years of college (at my community college). Many of my professors held high academic standards for their learners, but were also very accessible anytime their students had extra questions or needed more help.

7. Take Advantage of Credential-Stacking:

For students looking to ultimately earn a bachelor degree (or higher), a community college can be a great place to earn an extra degree—an associate degree, first. This could come in handy for a couple of different reasons for learners. First, is for job applicants: If two people applying for a job have the exact same qualifications, but one has an associate degree and the other does not, the individual with the associate degree has an extra credential (and that could be a deciding factor into who actually might land certain desired positions).

The other advantage of first earning an associate degree is if a student wants to leave school after two years to enter the job market (to earn more money quicker) or gain real-world experience after two years of college. An associate degree can often afford those students that very opportunity. After all, there are many good-paying jobs that only require a certificate (less than two years of college) or an associate degree. If students that earn an associates degree decide that they want to move up on the job ladder (and pursue jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher), they can then take their associate degree with them to a four-year college or university, whenever they so desire, to continue their academic studies.

8. Be Eligible for Transfer Scholarships:

Many four-year schools will have specific scholarships earmarked only for transfer students. This can be a great opportunity for a specific subset of college students, as the application pool may be smaller and the process fairly streamlined for receiving this type of financial aid. When I transferred from my community college to my selected four-year university, I was eligible for just such a transfer-student scholarship—and the process was both smooth and easy. Most four-year colleges and universities are always looking to enroll more students into their institutions, so if you are a current (or future) community college student—with plans and ambitions to transfer to a four-year college—make sure to familiarize yourself with the various scholarships set aside specifically for transfer students.

9. Remain Close to Home (and Your Support Network):

While there are certainly always students wanting to jump at any chance to leave home; their state; or region of the country (or beyond), not all seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen-year old students are ready (or even wanting) to do that right away (or, if ever). By choosing to study at a community college, students can either continue to live at home (while annually saving tens of thousands of dollars on room and board), or have their own place (but be close to home for emergencies or just to tap-into the comfort, security, and resources of having family close-by). Plane tickets can be expensive, and if a student has to fly home, or make long-distance automobile trips, costs can run into the thousands of dollars each year—even just for a couple, or few, annual visits (and what if an individual or family emergency suddenly occurs?). By being close to home—and starting out a community college—students can still be full-fledged college students while having their support network close by—for many, a win-win.

I went to a smaller high school, and the idea of enrolling at a large four-year college or university right away after high school was not very appealing to me. I am glad that I started out at a community college with just a few thousand students. After a couple years, I was ready to go to a larger public university with no troubles. But directly out of high school, that was something that I did not feel I was ready to do. A community college can be a great bridge (academically; personally; socially; and emotionally) between high school and four-year colleges and universities for many high school students after graduation.

10. Stay Connected With Friends and High School Alumni:

To be sure, again, some students might be eager with anticipation to go off to a college or university away from most (or all) of their high school peers; while others might cling to the comfort of knowing that they may have some familiar faces in their classes, and around campus, at their selected institution. If you are a student who wants to have some ready-made, built-in friendships from high school that continue on into college, community colleges often are best for that sort of thing. Likewise, if you are a student who is shy, or is anxious, about meeting new friends and students, community colleges can be great environments that ensure that while you are trying to create some new friendships, you will usually also be able to keep some of the old friendships going strong—the types of longstanding friendships where you can also be introduced to some of your friends’ friends in a safe, comforting manner.

Again, for me, coming from a smaller high school, I was comforted, and actually energized, by the fact that I would see some friends and familiar faces around the community college campus for the two years that I studied there. I was able to continue some of those existing high school friendships, while also, simultaneously, building friendships with students at rival high schools and other schools that I competed against in athletics, for instance.

11. Often Receive More Individual Attention:

One of the things that I found really beneficial to my own community college experience was the wealth of relevant, and helpful, information that I received from my academic advisors and the folks working in the student services department. To be sure, there are many great academic advisors and student support staff individuals working at four-year colleges (I was fortunate to have had generally good experiences, overall, with my own four-year institution), but it often felt easier, and even more assuring, accessing the knowledgeable, caring individuals I was blessed to have worked with during my first two years of college through the community college system. I could walk right in and schedule an appointment; I told them what I wanted to do (complete my general education courses; satisfy all Michigan Transfer Agreement requirements; and transfer to a four-year university), and they sat down with me to map out an academic plan that fit me exactly right.

Bonus: My community college even came out directly to my high school, in the Spring of my Senior year, to schedule classes for my first fall semester. For a 1st Generation future college student, like myself, that was incredibly helpful. The local community college that serves the high school that I work at also does the same exact thing for students.

Obviously, this point may be more anecdotal in nature—and not necessarily always every students’ experience—but community college advisors often work with a wider range of student ambitions (some students not knowing what they want to do or study; others wanting to pursue certificates; a sizable portion wanting to obtain an associate’s degree; and, finally, those of us who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree—or beyond), and so they must be extra knowledgeable about the different directions (academic and vocational) that students can go in. I certainly found this to be true in my own experiences, as well.

12. You Can Still Get the Often-Desired “College Experience”—A Bit Now (and Fully Later):

Sometimes, some students may not give community colleges much consideration because most do not have on-campus student housing, while some others may also not have athletics (or limited athletics), for instance. While it is true that those two things can be important factors for many students looking to receive the so-called full college experience, many community colleges still often offer robust student-led clubs and organizations on campus; drop-in, intramural, or collegiate athletics; fully-furnished student centers; and numerous options for on-campus dining, etc. Later on, when transferring to a four-year college—after a year or two for many students—the full ranges of college experiences will then be available just the same for those transfer students (and may even make some students appreciate and value the social aspects of four-year colleges and universities even more, in the long run).

Likewise, community colleges are also great options for those no-frills types of students, as well—students who solely want to go to school to receive an education. They may also be working; attending school part-time; raising families; have limited free-time; or might not generally be interested in the extra social affairs of college. Community colleges can allow students to simply focus on their studies with perhaps fewer distractions during the first half of their collegiate careers (extra good, perhaps, for students that have a harder time with peer pressure, time management, or external distractions).

13. Experience Greater Student Body Diversity:

Because of community college’s open admissions; flexibility of study options; along with close geographical proximity for many area students, they often reflect a richer array of diversity—racial and ethnic; socio-economical; and, also, age diversity, to name a few—compared to many four-year institutions. As a former community college student, I was always impressed and inspired by the non-traditional-aged learners in my classes. Going back to school after long periods of time—especially while trying to work a job or raise a family—is certainly not easy to do, and takes a lot of courage, grit, and determination, in some cases. Most of my non-traditional-aged classmates were serious, mature students eager to collaboratively work together, and excited to be back in a standard scholastic learning environment. I thought that they added a certain layer of rich depth and perspective to many of my classes. I think this (greater student age diversity, for example) is something that benefits both younger and older students, alike—and is much more likely to be found at many two-year colleges compared to most four-year schools.

14. (Perhaps) Pass on Standardized Tests:

Some student may decide that they want to forgo taking a standardized test (or not submit their scores if they did test) from one of the country’s two largest testing agencies. While some competitive programs housed within community colleges may require standardized test scores, the vast majority of community colleges will not make standardized test scores a requirement for admission. Community colleges will, however, use placement testing scores from their own assessments to help place students into the appropriate level of classes. Placement tests are often shorter to take and do not preclude a certain score for admissions. The placement test scores help inform the college (and student) what level of classes will most likely reflect a student’s current level of ability and understanding. Standardized testing can be nerve-wracking, stressful, or even discouraging for some students, so passing on standardized tests might be appealing to a portion of students.

—The Blue-Collar Counselor