<p>I am an Oklahoma resident. I have been offered full ride scholarships from Louisiana Tech and a local community college. The offer from LA Tech covers everything except books and transportation. The offer from the community college covers everything and I would get priority class enrollment, too. Due to recent changes in my family’s situation, I am now eligible for Pell Grants, so the residual costs of LA Tech will just about be diminished. </p>
<p>I plan on studying a form of engineering; I have narrowed it down to mechanical, aerospace, or civil. I know that LA Tech has a good engineering department, but the community college also has a good engineering department and has solid connections to OK State and is known for its high transfer rate.</p>
<p>So what would be the pros and cons of attending a 2 year college then transferring? Any advice about what I should consider in making my decision?</p>
<p>By the way, the community college is Northern Oklahoma College.</p>
<p>Transfers are often the end of the line for financial aid and merit awards. The other issue is whether you could make the transfer as your performance during the two years will make all of the difference. Also transfers are accepted to programs on a space available basis that can vary widely depending on how many spaces are open which is dependent on who in there leaves. In a year when no one leaves, there could be no spaces at all. There is also the issue of how well a two year program prepares for a 4 year one. The courses of a 4 year program are designed and taught with the knowledge of how prepared these students have to be in the final years of the program. THere may even be the same faculty teaching the program in the intro courses that are also teaching the advanced ones. So the continuity is much smoother.</p>
<p>The ONLY advantages that a CC usually can offer are costs and vicinity to home if that is a factor. In your case, I would go to LA Tech without hesitation.</p>
<p>You are not likely to get an equivalent offer after completing your AA/AS degree because transfers usually don’t get good aid. I say start at LA Tech now, and work hard so that you maintain that scholarship every single year.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, another question: If I get an AA/AS at the CC and then transfer, it would still take four years to get a bachelor’s degree right? So six years total to get what I could get at LA Tech in four years (I don’t really know which looks better, an AA/AS amd a bachelor’s, or just a bachelor’s, but in less time and at only one school?)</p>
<p>You should only have to attend OKS for two years, four years total. They accept the classes of NOC for the basics.</p>
<p>The way it is supposed to work is that the community college can provide the courses that you need so that you can graduate in 4 years with a bachelor’s degree. The first two years of college is often spent getting the basic requirements fulfilled in the different disciplines. What anyone who has specific plans in terms of the 4 year degree should do, is look at the requirements of the 4 year schools where the BA/BS degree is hopefully going to by attained, and take courses that replicate the first two years there as closely as possible. Also, it is helpful to transfer to a 4 year school with a relationship with the CC attended so that the transition is as smooth as possible and as many courses and requiements are covered during those CCyears.</p>
<p>That is the ideal situation. Too often, that does not happen, and, yes, if the school or program to whcih someone with 2 years of CC transfers does not accept the courses taken, or has other requirements or the courses did not properly prepare the student for the four year degree, it can and often does take more than 4 years. But I have known any number of students who have done it in 4 years. Some have also taken an extra term, summer school supplements and even an extra year, but that is not uncommon even with those who start out from Day1 at a four year school. A change in majors has my son taking summer school supplementations. My friend’s son needed an extra semester to graduate from college. No community college or transfers involved in either of those situations.</p>
<p>But your chances of getting through wtihout a lot of the transfer issues is, of course, the best when you do start out at a school where you are finishing. Seamless matches of any two separate things are not easily attained, and are often impossible. With the awards you have, you have the opportunity to go to a 4 year school for very little cost and if you can do well there, get out in 4 years with a marketable degree and little or no debt. That’s about as good as it gets.</p>
<p>It is unlikely that you will get a financial aid offer as food as you have gotten from LA Tech if you go to a CC first. Since the costs are very similar, is there some reason you don’t want to choose LA Tech?</p>
<p>You are being given a great opportunity by LA Tech. You can cover travel and books easily with money from summer work and/or a part-time on campus job during school. I would definitely choose the LA Tech offer over community college. There is no guarantee that 2 years from now you would get such a great offer for the remaining 2 years of school. You will probably want to continue on for a graduate degree after your Bachelors, and if the offer from LA Tech will help minimize debt, you will have more options available to help cover the cost of grad school. Congratulations!</p>
<p>Louisiana Tech is the better financial choice, for the reason cited more than once above, that aid is much harder to come by as a transfer student.</p>
<p>Note that if the scholarship you are receiving to La Tech is the Presidential, then you will need to maintain a 3.0 average to keep it. Also note that La Tech does not offer a major in Aerospace Engineering, whereas Oklahoma State does.</p>
<p>I think BobWallace has pointed out why there is even a question as to why the OP should even consider the CC option. Are you interested in a specific program like Aerospace Engineering that is not offered by LA Tech, and considering going to the CC for two years and taking advantage of favored status and easier transfer to OS after two years? I can see how you are thinking. Be aware that certain majors are not easy to gain entry, even for those students already in the school. And they would have first dibs, followed by those from CCs that are affiiliated, but preferred treamtnet does not necessarily apply to every single major. My friend’s son found this out when he was rejected from schools with a very high, nearly auto accept rate, when he was applying to aviation type programs. That program, along with a number of others, gets a lot of interest, and as a result the average accept ratios for a school do not apply for those students applying to them. So do keep that in mind as you look at those numbers. My one son ran into the same sort of thing with his MT studies. Got into some schools, but not into that specific program and when it comes to money…well, why should a school pay someone to come to a program to which so many are beating at the doors, money in fist to attend?</p>
<p>My suggestion is to go to LA Tech, take what courses you can, for a possible transfer to the program you are eyeing at OS. do the absolute best you can, and apply for transfer in two years and see if you are not only accepted, but get money from OS to make it possible. If it doesn’t work out, you then can continue at LA Tech, and get a degree in something that will make a good living possible, little to no debt, and the possibility of taking certificate courses afterwards on a part time basis with a good job to support you and the pay for such courses. If you go to CC and do not get into the program you want, don’t get the money for any program to get a 4 year degree, you are not going to be in as good shape. Being in good financial position does increase your options.</p>
<p>Many people in the aerospace business actually have Mech E degrees. That should not really be a discriminator.</p>
<p>Depends on the goal of the OP. If he wants to be a pilot which some such majors do want to achieve, you need a school that has those facilities.</p>
<p>Many people in the aerospace business actually have Mech E degrees. That should not really be a discriminator.</p>
<p>exactly…MechE, EE, physics degrees, math degrees, etc.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the replies!</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse I currently do not see myself wanting to become a pilot in the future. And so transferring from LA Tech rather than from the CC and going to OKS would be a better idea? The only problem I have with that is that I don’t have a guarantee of a nice scholarship being offered to me from OKS if I do decide to transfer from the CC or LA Tech. But I would also have in state tuition and could commute and would still get Pell Grants…but I’d rather be assured generous aid now, you know? Also, the credits that I would receive while studying at the CC would all transfer over to OKS if I decided to go that route.</p>
<p>@teachandmom, Yes! That is what I am worried about- no guarantee of such a nice offer in 2 years when I transfer if I attend the CC. And I currently have a job and am saving for the residual costs if I do decide to attend LA Tech :)</p>
<p>@thumper1, Ummm…I guess going to a college close to home albeit my current home situation is quite unstable. Plus, when I visited the CC, the staff waited hand and foot on me and it felt like royalty! The financial aid counselor was also willing to make a ‘professional judgment’ regarding my financial aid and FAFSA situation when I explained my situation to her, which would allow me to qualify for more aid from the CC.</p>
<p>Also, there could always be OKS for graduate school, right? Like teachandmom said, I can go to a 4 year and receive a bachelor’s degree while getting in minimal debt- a dream these days!</p>
<p>You can work in the aerospace industry as a plumber, too. The OP listed Aerospace Engineering as a possible major, so it’s important to know of if that major is available. Mechanical Engineers and Electrical Engineers are all over the aerospace industry, but they are not doing the same work as Aerospace Engineers. I have Electrical, Mechanical, Biomedical, and Aerospace Engineers in my research lab, but we work primarily within our own disciplines and do not all do the same things.</p>
<p>OP, did you apply to Oklahoma State? Are you eligible for Oklahoma’s Promise (OHLAP)? I know that you did not list OSU as one of your two choices in your post, but between Oklahoma’s Promise, Pell Grant, Cowboy Covenant, and a small merit award, Oklahoma State is pretty affordable, especially if you plan on commuting. In addition, I know many students who had lower ACT scores and GPA’s (not saying you do!) who applied to OSU and were accepted, with the condition of taking nearly all of their classes at NOC their freshman year.</p>
<p>OP, I’m a student here at Oklahoma State. Feel free to message me if you would like more information.</p>
<p>The thing is, if you go to LA Tech, if you do apply to OS in two years and the numbers do not work out so that you feel that you can financially make the transfer, then, oh well, you can just continue for free at LA Tech on the scholarship you would have there, as long as you don’t lose it. If you go to CC, you are stuck after 2 years in that you MUST transfer SOMEWHERE to get your Bachelor’s and IF you do not get any financial aid offer from OS or ANY 4 year school, including LA Tech at that time, you will be in a financial quandry. You have a bird in hand right now for 4 years of practically free college. In the other you have 2 years. OS is in the bush along with any other school that has not offered you anything right now. The fact of the matter is that most of the time, your best chance is right now as a freshman entry, to get any aid. Not as much money in the pot as a transfer. So you might as well keep the option of going for very little money at LA Tech, but do give it a try in terms of transferring in 2 years, and see what pans out.</p>