Deciding which college to attend? Consider CBC | Guest Opinion

There is a lot of pressure for graduating high school students to attend a university. I know, I have worked at three different universities in the past 10 years. I would like to offer high school students the unsolicited advice to consider attending Columbia Basin College (CBC).

As one of the few mythical student debt-free, home-owning millennials, I think my CBC experience set me up for success and I believe it can do the same for others.

One of the biggest reasons to consider community college is the cost. Having worked at a large research University, a liberal arts college, and a regional public university in student support services, the most common reason I saw students have to stop college was financial.

Many students and their families did not fully understand the costs of the university experience or believed the university would find them enough scholarship or loan money to cover their costs. There is less scholarship money available than you think, and oftentimes the university can’t give you as much loan money as you need to get by.

In my Psychology class at CBC I sat between a 16-year-old Latina taking the course for college credit in the Running Start program and a white woman in her early forties who was in recovery, changing her life path. When I eventually transferred to I was prepared academically and socially. I had learned how to talk with anyone.

My experience being in class with such a diverse group of people at CBC helped me make more sense of my course materials but also helped me find work easily. Running Start allows 11th and 12th graders to simultaneously earn high school and college credit for CBC classes. The best part? Students don’t pay tuition, just for their books.

General education courses are all virtually the same. I found the smaller format at CBC better for my learning than being in a massive lecture hall with hundreds of other students. What is important is that you ensure the classes you take will be accepted where you’d like to go after.

You can find out for yourself by emailing the universities you may want to transfer to after CBC and asking them for the list of classes they will accept from CBC and what those transfer classes will count for. Preparing for this article I emailed three state universities and they got back to me right away.

Community colleges will tell you it important to get an associate degree before transferring. That is kind of a mixed bag. You don't have to have an associate degree to transfer, just credits that will transfer to the school you’d like to go to.

As students and families in the Tri-Cities begin to plan for next fall, put a conversation about CBC on your to-do list. Compare CBC’s tuition for a full load to the cost for public university tuition in Washington. Think about all the other costs, such as rent and food.

Regardless of costs though, be honest with yourself about what works best for you. A college experience is mostly what a student makes of it, what do you plan to do with yours?

This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Deciding which college to attend? Consider CBC | Guest Opinion."