Community Colleges Prep Students For Changing Realities
When the University of Massachusetts Amherst made a recent announcement that it would give some special perks to students transferring in from community colleges, it was good news to the leadership at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester and Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner.
In some ways, the notion of a community college graduate — perhaps one whose parents hadn’t gone to college themselves — heading to a highly regarded university is a perfect pursuit of the American Dream.
But going to UMass is certainly not the only dream that local community college students have. With economic shifts constantly changing the job landscape and frequent career changes becoming a given for many young workers, the question of what’s valuable in an education is very much up for discussion. And the UMass Amherst Community College Connection agreement is just one of a huge and growing array of transfer deals and other opportunities available to students at the local colleges.
The new UMass Amherst policy offers a waiver of the $1,714 annual in-state tuition charge for some transfer students, although they are still subject to about $10,000 a year in fees. The transfers also get access to priority registration and priority housing so they don’t have to stand in line behind other incoming juniors.
“It’s always been that we sort of have two different streams, yet they’re not completely separate,” said Ann McDonald, executive vice president at Mount Wachusett Community College.
Students can take courses designed to prepare them for a job or for transfer, and many classes can serve either purpose, allowing students to change their minds if necessary.
Since the start of the recession, the community colleges have seen more students who want to save money, and perhaps hang onto the part-time job they started in high school, while beginning their college education.
“We do see a lot more students now who are interested in using the community college as a springboard,” said Quinsigamond President Gail Carberry.
Many existing articulation agreements let students transfer to various schools after they finish their two-year associate’s degree, or even take three years at a community college and then finish a bachelor’s degree at schools like Nichols College in Dudley. And students who want to become nurse practitioners can go right from Quinsigamond or Mount Wachusett into a master’s program under an agreement with the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
A Matter Of Degrees
A new “reverse transfer” agreement also promises an associate’s degree to students who transferred to Worcester or Fitchburg State University from one of the local community colleges before finishing. They can apply credits from their new school backward to the community college and get an associate’s degree while continuing to work toward a bachelor’s.
In general, Carberry said, the focus on “stackable” certifications is important to community college students. Getting a one-yearcertificate, then an associate’s degree and then a bachelor’s can help students who are working their way through college find better jobs and also protect those who are forced to leave before finishing a four-year degree.
McDonald said students may also return many years after getting a degree to retool or prepare for a new line of work.
In some cases, students who graduate with an associate’s degree may be in better shape than their classmates who go on to a four-year school, with good job prospects and fewer loans to pay back. Economists project growth in job fields that require just a little college education, in fields like health care and high-tech manufacturing.
“We’ll hear that our associate degree students are working right alongside the kids with the bachelor’s degrees,” McDonald said.
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