Former Northwood student Sophia Pearce stepped foot onto the University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s (UNC-W) campus for orientation, ready to take on her collegiate journey. As she walked into the crowded auditorium, surrounded by the noise of laughter and excitement from her hopeful peers, Pearce realized she did not feel the same. She felt no excitement to attend her future school.
Pearce then withdrew from UNC-W and enrolled at Central Carolina Community College (CCCC).
“If you have the money to go to college, and you know exactly where you want to go and who you want to be, then I say go for it,” Pearce said. “But if you are completely unsure and you don’t think that you’ll enjoy the college that you’re going to, or you need more help getting ready for college, then I think CCCC or any community college is a good idea.”
Community college is becoming a more popular option for graduating seniors because of the benefits that community college offers.
“The financial piece is a big thing,” intern guidance counselor Telisa Hunter said. “Sometimes it’s about maturity, whether you are ready to take that big step. Sometimes it’s helpful to for students who maybe want to save money. Maybe they want to go to a college, but they don’t want to have loans, or they don’t want to be in debt…. Sometimes it’s easier to live at home; for some students there are some issues going on at home where they need to be there or stay near whatever is going on, so that gives them the option of still going to college and not having to leave the home.”
College and career advisor April Hammonds says that some students ultimately would not be pleased with attending community college because of the negative stigma.
“A lot of people say, ‘Oh it’s just like high school,’ or ‘Oh, people are dumb if they go to community college,’ and it’s not really like that at all,” Hammonds said. “Some of the courses are very challenging for students. I guess you don’t get that experience. You don’t have big football games to go to, or you don’t really get to experience tons of student organizations. So for some students, they want that college experience, but you may not feel like you’re getting that if you go to a community college and you’re staying at home.”
Senior Eduardo Peralta-Reyes will be attending CCCC in the fall of 2016. He plans to transfer to a university after two years.
“I’m just going to CCCC to get the basics out of the way, because I’m not really sure what I really want to do, what career I want to pursue,” Peralta-Reyes said. “I’m just going to get my basics out of the way, and if I want to get my doctorate, this way I save more money.”
Programs are being created to help students save money by attending community college and guaranteeing a transfer. One of these programs is called C-STEP.
“For any community college in North Carolina, as long as you get a two year Associate’s degree, and you’re part of the transfer program, and you do well… you are almost guaranteed to transfer to any of the UNC system schools,” Hunter said. “It’s different than getting in the first time. A lot of the time, it doesn’t include things like ACT or SAT scores, which hold some kids back.”
The Accelerate Program was created at CCCC in Pittsboro and allows students to get an Associate of Arts Degree in one year and then graduate in three years instead of four.
Senior Chaz Bailey was accepted into the Accelerate Program and will be attending CCCC starting in the fall of 2016.
“I get to stay at home another year with my parents, another year with my brother and my sister,” Bailey said. “It’s only two grand to get my first two years of college done. A lot of my friends are doing the same thing, so I’ll be able to hang out with them for another year, which is good. It’s nice to be home for a little while.”
According to The Christian Science Monitor, 80 percent of students who attend community college plan to transfer to a four-year university. However, only 15 percent of them actually earn their Bachelor’s Degree within six years.
“I will say there are some students who get complacent,” Hunter said. “They say ‘I’m going to go to the two year, and then I’m going to transfer,’ and then they don’t, and that can be a little bit of a downfall. Some students who need to get out of the environment they are in don’t get that option if they stay at home and stay in the same hometown. There are reasons for students to spread their wings or get out of what’s going on in their home or in their community, but we have such an amazing community college system in North Carolina that I don’t know that it has lots of negatives.”
After Pearce withdrew from UNC-W and attended CCCC, she was initially disappointed and embarrassed to tell people that she attended a community college.
“I thought it was going to be bad,” Pearce said. “I thought I was going to have an awful time, and in the first month of me going to CCCC, I absolutely despised it and I hated people knowing I went to CCCC, because they [looked] down on me. My dad didn’t want to tell anyone, because he graduated from UNC… and he was like, ‘And you’re going to community college,’ and he felt ashamed. Then he looked at the course work I was taking, with the grades I was getting. I was working full time at the same time, and he slowly warmed up to it. And I’m slowly warming up to it.”
For as long as community college has been around, there has been a stigma attached to it.
“I personally have great respect for the program that we’ve set up, especially in North Carolina,” Hunter said. “I wish it did not have such a negative piece, because I tell people all the time, you can have that same goal, and you can reach that same goal; you just take a different path to get there. That’s all community college is.”
Pearce talked about the positive atmosphere that CCCC has created to ensure students do not feel alone while in college.
“People just watch over you,” Pearce said. “Mostly people go to community college because they’re not ready to go to a real college, so they are preparing themselves…. I know for people who struggle and who’ve never had a parent who went to college or anything, they need the attention, they get the attention and they do well in their classes.”
CTE teacher Ann Thomas believes it does not matter whether a student attends a university or community college but that it all depends on the student.
“I just hold education high, and I think we should all achieve,” said Thomas, who became a nurse after attending community college. “I think it’s an honor to go to college, and I think it’s an honor to have an education.”
– By Hannah Gail Shepherd
