The time has come for students to send in their applications to transfer to a university, and many are struggling to make a decision.
Given the uncertainty of the COVID-19 recovery schedule, students should save money without pausing their education by enrolling or remaining at a community college next semester.
Many current four-year college students have already decided to return home and only take classes online during the fall semester, some even dropping out of their universities to enroll in a community college.
According to an article published by The Hechinger Report back in May 2020, 17% of current four-year college students don’t plan to return in the fall if their institutions provide only online instruction.
Students are already recognizing that it is not worth it to pay for online classes at a four-year school when they can pay much less for the same classes at a community college.
Not only will transferring to a four-year increase the price of learning online for community college students, but it will limit the other benefits for those who were looking forward to the social elements of a university experience.
According to an article published by Cal Matters, the shift to online learning is making it challenging for schools to support transfer students and can lead to them feeling like they don’t belong.
Transfer students already have to struggle with being introduced to a different kind of education where they are surrounded by students that have already been there for a few years.
Without the university being able to support transfer students in a physical aspect, the process of trying to fit in will be difficult.
The meaningful connections that transfer students are able to make with people on campus will no longer be available, leaving new students to figure it out on their own.
Transferring to a four-year during a pandemic is simply not worth it for college students because of the price they would have to pay and the experiences that they would miss out on.
