Thoughts Wanted On Schooling Options

Alright, as some people might recall from my rants and raves about my current school, I'm none too pleased with the current quality of my education. I'm currently enrolled at a community college going for a 2 year associate's degree. Prior to the sudden ummm... "total-complete-and-utter" failure of the American economy, I probably would have been okay with just the associate's degree and experience in the web dev business, both at a company and as a freelancer. However, I'm now considering going to a four year school instead of sticking it out to the end of this crummy little "education". The school that I'm considering will likely have a better comp science program, but it has no web dev program like the community college. I, however, want to place an emphasis on server side developement so this will likely not be a problem.

This all sounds well and good and clear cut so far, but there's one catch. My parents will pay for my schooling until my 23rd birthday (that's 5 years out of high school), after that, I'm stuck footing whatever bill I have. Staying at the community college will be no sweat - I'll have the degree before that date. However, switching to the four year school will likely leave me footing at least HALF of a very hefty school bill. That means I'll need to either work full time and attend school full time, or I'll need to slowly dredge my way through part time classes for the next 4 years or so (I'll already have a lot of credits that transfer from the comm coll). So, what does everyone think? Should I stick it out at the community college where I'm not learning much but don't have to pay, hoping that I can get a decent job after I'm out, or do I take the chance on the four year school? I'd love to hear opinions on this, especially from some of the folks who've already gone through the college game. Thanks to everyone who puts in their two cents.

As far as finances, fill out a FAFSA form. You'll be old enough at 23 to qualify as an independent, so you can get federal aid based on YOUR income alone, not counting your parents. I assume if you're having trouble paying for school your income isn't all that high

Also, what state are you in? I know California has some decent state aid in the form of Cal Grants. If you qualify you're guaranteed help.

I'd recommend the four year school.

If there is any way you can not work your way through school, do it. I worked 40+ hours a week and attended classes and it was horrible. It all comes down to your own time managment, of course, but I didn't have time for anything. Plop a wife and kid on top of that and it's even worse.

Just get the student loans, take a good size course load, and get out of there in 3 - 4 years.

---John Holmes...

i'd also recommend the four year course. it's all about sorting your priorities and time management. no matter how much work you have to do to pay for it, you'll still come out on top in the future .

ctb, come to australia - gov pays for your education there and then you pay back when your salary reaches certain point. I don't think there is any interest on that. (for student loans, what is it like 10% nowadays?) Also I reckon it's tax deductible.

If I were you, I'd go for bachelor, however many years it takes. As in - I've known people to get bachelor in computer related biz (long) before they turn 21.

I really think this depends on how much of a gambler you are. The safest bet would be to go through the 4-year institution. Even if you stay at the comm. college, you will end up going back and getting your BS afterwords.
Why do I say that? That is what I am in the process of doing now. I went through and got an AAS that I paid for myself. I didn't learn **** from the school, all I got was a piece of paper and a job through thier co-op program. This is why my gamble paid off. I got a job in a decent sized company. Now, after I have been there long enough, they will pay for my education. So I am going back to school to finish off my education (but I am actually going past a BS).
John is right when he stated that it sucks to try and work and go to school at the same time. Even those who can manage thier time well will still have a challenge going to school full time and doing full time job. But, when you are in a no-win situation, you do what you have to.
I would recommend you go to the four year. One of the gambles of transfering your credits to a four-year school is that some of the things you take won't transfere. That really sucks, believe me. I hated taking basics, then to have to take some of them twice really sucks.

Hmm, general consensus seems to be 4 years. The school I planned on attending is Junior/Senior only, so unfortunately, that means I'll have to take some classes at the community college if I go there. On the other hand, I know I can't pay to move off to a 4-year school right now unless I have a full 40 hour per week check. It's not that I don't make much (for my age and educational status anyway), it's that I made a lot of dumb mistakes and got myself in a little too much debt. I agree though with pretty much everyone here though - I'd love to attend the four year (ah, but that we could start all over again with a fresh slate hmm? Sort of like an "Undo" for life...)

John - My girlfriend takes full time classes, works 25 hours per week, pretty much raises her little sisters because her parents basically ignore them, and, to top it all off, lives an hour from school and work. I can see exactly what that sort of schedule does and it breaks my heart to see it.. so I know how bad it can be Also, my father took full time night classes and held down a full time office job for about 2 years while he worked on his master's, but, it was just way too much with a hectic managment schedule and high level course work, and finally he had to drop school.

Al - That must be nice... we buy bombs and guns here in America with our money.. noone will be smart enough to use them, but by golly, when they go off they'll take out a hell of a chunk of.. well.. SOMETHING I'd LOVE to move to Australia though.. I've known a couple folks that visited and they LOVED it.

bricker - I hadn't thought of that... if I can get FAFSA-based aid, I might be ok on the financial end, hmmmmm

Ronin and Onslaught - I agree that in the end, whether you really learn anything or not it's the four year scrap of paper that means something to employers, especially in today's tech economy here in the states.

I'm definitely going to seriously consider moving to a 4 year school even if I have to practically start over from scratch.

Ctb, what school are you looking at?

I'm just about to dive into a new program from a private college in Michigan ( www.baker.edu ). They offer online degrees in CIS and Web Design. It's pricier than local schools, but it works MUCH better with my schedule. Plus I save on gas and don't need to go buy a car

I doubt any of you guys have had experience with the college, but if anyone knows anything I'd like to hear it.

I was looking at a local branch of Penn State that just started up a business-oriented technology program. I don't really like the idea of managing engineers or programmers though, so I think I'll keep looking

I'm taking a quick look at this Baker site now to see what they offer. Maybe I should go with an online school..

How can you not want a car? I just got my third car (in 4 years ). '94 Ford Thunderbird LX - V8, all the options, and low miles. $5500 with tax and tags. Not a bad price at all. You gotta have the freedom to move man Course, if you live in a city or something I guess that's another story.

I have to get the hell out of this school though... I'm sitting here doing one of my latest assignments. Part 1: Name the labeled parts of this Dreamweaver screen. Sample questions from Part 2 (multiple choice):

#19 - Flash Files are saved with the filename extension:
a. PNG
b. JPG
c. SWF
d. GIF

#20 - A CSS Style Name is preceded by a
a. Pound sign
b. Period
c. Dash
d. Number

The prof. makes us send a document back telling us what we learned and what we had trouble with from the last section.. I was so peeved last week that I sent one back that said, and I kid you not, only:

"I had no trouble following the step by step instructions for things that I figured out on my own 2 years ago."

So much I could be learning... so much I'm not

Well, as for the car, my income didn't even cover my expenses until last week. The company I work for finally figured out that the student they were paying $7.25/hour was doing more work than half of the team, and maybe they should compensate him appropriately (to be fair, most of them haven't used java before. They're not bad programmers or anything .

I just helped my fiancee buy a car, and she works near where I do, so I'm ok for transportation.

I feel you on the class things. I'm really hoping baker college works out, because it looks like they're let me CLEP out of a good deal of the classes. (*ADVANCED* HTML programming???? How in the hell is *anything* HTML advanced? )

Basic is where you learn HTML, advanced is where you learn how to make it work

lol

Maybe I should take that class then!