Makes no financial sense whatsoever for freshmen to take their 100/200 level classes remotely at a four-year... I hope none of them who do are not planning on being econ or finance majors.

Are planning...

@3 is right. Charles has inadvertently hit on why America is falling far far behind the rest of the world. Students here are not required to do jack relative to other countries. The fact that anyone has to start algebra in college is a stunning indictment of American laziness.

As Kate McKinnon put it on SNL last spring, "all colleges now are basically the University of Phoenix with worse tech support."

Honestly the way middle and high school virtual learning is going it might make sense for students to bail in favor of community colleges. Professors there know how to teach online and don’t endlessly bellyache about being too scared to do in-person classes and then not capable of doing online classes, don’t put your kids in pods because equity but don’t pull your kids out of the district because equity, and on and on except the part about delivering quality education to students.

But don’t plan on going to culinary school at Central. The administration is getting ready to cut the program (despite a several quarters long waitlist) in anticipation of budget cuts from the state that haven’t come. It’s a shame to lose an award winning culinary and pastry program because the administrative level is refusing to take cuts.

This is always good advice unless you are gunning for a competitive PhD program down the road.

@7 - if I had a kid insisting on the 4 year college "experience" I'd offer to give them a fraction of the cost of tuition so they could travel for the "experience". Waaaaay cheaper and they would probably learn a lot more about themselves than being in an institution. I can't think of a more expensive path to self knowledge than spending $$$$ for four years for "the experience".

@ 10 - This is always good advice unless you are gunning for a competitive PhD program down the road.

Contradict yourself much?

I think it's an excellent idea to go to a community college for the freshman and sophomore years.

You know, there was a time when the university experience engendered a sense of loyalty and family (Wisconsin! Colgate! Rutgers! Brown!), but that seems arcane and rather silly these days. I mean, yeah...there's Saturday afternoon football, but at 30, 40, 50K a year for tuition, unless someone else is picking up the tab, that school loyalty dies when you realize you as a person and student are very much secondary to that tuition and those fees. And in many cases after graduation you harbor a fuck load of resentment for good ole Alma Mater as you pay off those student loans until you are in your fifties or sixties. My university always upped its tuition to max whenever the student loan limit was raised.

Nobody cares where you went to school for your first two years, so cut your education bills in half. Just be sure the community college is associated with a good university and that all your classes will transfer,

Before Prop 13, all the community colleges in California were free, You just had to buy your books - which could be quite an expense, Now they charge a modest tuition, but before the pandemic there was a move to bring back free tuition. Hope so. It helped educate the state.

If you are concerned about being looked down on for being a transfer student (some are), I can tell you the only people who may cast shade aren't paying their own bills. Hand them a powder puff and a big lollipop.

@10
What is a phd program?
I learned the necessary basics at my SCCC pre engineering classes in better circumstances than 2 years at UW. Of course a uni has facilities and research potential (that you can't really access in the first two years and are unlikely to in your last two+ years). And the admin at UW actually was quite cool with a CC transfer even offering funding to non traditional students, with experience.
And afterwards, neither the Danish university where I did my masters or the German universities where I was paid a competitive engineering salary to do a Phd and PostDoc had any issue with community college courses in my CV.
A Phd program sounds like something for someone who doesn't have any experience outside academia. At a Phd level you should be developing a thesis, not following a program.