What is a Community College?

Community colleges, sometimes also called junior colleges, are a type of educational institution that provides a range of courses to students in order to help their skill enhancement and prepare them for a transfer to a university. They are mostly 2-year colleges that provide students with affordable post-secondary education and prepare students for future endeavours of life. Read this blog further to understand what exactly is a community college.

How Does Community College Work?

To understand better what a community college it is important to know how does it work. Community college is usually a 2-year college that offers general education to the students such as math, and history before transferring to a four-year university or going for a job. As the name suggests, these are local colleges that provide post-secondary education at an affordable cost and are open to everyone. Usually, when a student enters a traditional university, they are required to take 2 years of general education before proceeding to their specialization. So, many students prefer to actually pursue their general education at such educational institutions and then pursue their remaining 2 years at the traditional university. 

These colleges also help job-seekers get their first entry-level job by teaching them the necessary skills in different fields.

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Perks

Once you know what is a community college, you should know why you should study in one. Here is a list of reasons:

Affordable: These colleges provide good quality education at an affordable cost which doesn’t create a burden on the students as well as their parents. 

Flexibility: Community college can be great for those who are not actually sure what they want to do as an academic institution provides the flexibility of learning and coping with everything at your own pace without any pressure. It also gives you the opportunity to discover new things about yourself and find out what is best for you.

Relevance: Everyone demands trained professionals in order to carry out work.  These types of colleges play a big role in developing technical and vocational skills for international students. For eg- green technology is an emerging field and it will require its workers to be trained in different and new ways.  

Personalized attention: These colleges are smaller in size than traditional universities which gives them an advantage of more personalized attention and on one talk with the instructors. Also, students can take up as long to understand a topic fully in order to move up at their own pace.

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Type of Courses Offered

The process of understanding what is a community college involves knowing the types of courses offered by them. Listed below are the types of courses offered by Community Colleges.

• Certificate
• Diploma
• Advanced Diploma/ Associate Degree

Difference Between Community College and a University

Here are the key differences between a community college and a university:

Basis	Community College	University
Cost	Community colleges are much cheaper as compared to traditional four-year universities.	Universities are much more strict and pickier when picking up candidates for their universities. They look for diverse candidates with a smart mindset.
Admission Requirements	Admission is generally open to almost everyone i.e. any high school graduate might get admission. The admission requirements are a lot less strict than universities.	The number of students is less in community colleges, the class size is less which allows for one to one interaction. Average Class Size: 25-35
Class Size	With the number of students being in a large class, class sizes are usually much larger than in community colleges. Thus, one-to-one interaction becomes very difficult in such a scenario. Average Class Size: 150-300	The number of students is less in community colleges, the class size is less which allows for one-to-one interaction. Average Class Size: 25-35
Living Arrangements	These colleges don’t provide students with housing facilities and students usually stay at their own homes and commute to college every day.	Universities provide on-campus dorms or on-campus apartments to their students.  Along with that, a meal plan is also followed in universities, unlike community colleges.
Programs Offered	These colleges offer associate degrees which the students can typically complete in or under two years. Basically, community colleges offer fewer course options than universities	Universities offer bachelor, master and doctoral degrees which can be completed in four years only. They offer a wide range of courses as compared to community colleges.

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Community Colleges for International Students

• Green River College- Auburn, Washington
• Orange Coast College- Costa Mesa, California
• North Virginia Community College- Annandale, Virginia
• Valencia College- Orlando, Florida
• Fanshawe College- Southwestern Ontario, Canada
• Algonquin College- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• De Anza College- Cupertino, California
• Santa Monica College- Santa Monica, California

Community Colleges in India

• Krishna University
• Gauhati University
• Kolhan University
• University of Mysore
• Manipur University

FAQs

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We hope that this blog was able to help you get familiarized with the concept of community colleges. Confused about choosing the right career path for yourself? Get in touch with Leverage Edu experts to get complete guidance in choosing the right course for yourself and getting admission to your dream university. Sign up for a free session with us now!