if you want to save money and don’t care about college life or quality of education, then go to community college which is for 2 years only, then transfer into a 4-year university and finish the last 2 years of bachelor program and sometimes 3 years depending on how tough the university is on crediting your community college courses.

if you care about your college life and want an easier transition into 4-year university, then go straight into a 4-year university from high school.

if you didn’t get into a quality 4-year university in the first place straight from high school, then i would suggest to take the community college route, so that you have a chance to get into a well-educationally-provided 4-year university.

if you’re thinking about grad school for sure without turning back, then i would suggest an easy school for your bachelors since the main concern is your gpa and nothing else, not quality of education or name/recognition of the school. many times, students are happy that they got into top 4-year schools but their gpa’s suffered and ended up not getting into any grad schools. that’s why i say, you have to know for sure that you want to go to grad school, or else if you change your mind along the way during 4-year university, then you might regret the outcomes due to your gpa’s (because of tough school which comes with the school name/recognition), or due to your crappy bachelor university name/recognition and crappy education (if you changed your mind to not go to grad school, and would probably missed out on many job potentials due to crappy school name).

so it depends on your earnest priorities: school name, gpa, college life, easy transition into 4-year university, grad school potentials, and also money.

Community colleges do not give Bachelors degree, they give out associates degree which is a 2 yr degree. But you can get a your associates degree (2yr) and then transfer to a university to get a bachelors. I went to community college for my first two years and transferred to a four year university and got my bachelors. Its a great idea, and i’m glad I chose that path, save money too 🙂

Mostly, it’s all about your drive to do well, so if you can save money by going to CC then I would totally do it. Way cheaper that way.