I currently live in Italy but I’m a US citizen. I’m moving with my family to Kansas, but I’m not interested in any schools in that state. I was told by my counselor to look for community colleges that are state sponsored. What does this mean? How can I tell if a community college is state sponsored?
Read the school’s Wikipedia article about it. If the Wikipedia says “x community college is a public institution…” (public is the key word), it’s what you would call state sponsored. A state sponsored school is one where the state it is located in gives money directly to the college in question. In Kansas for example, colleges like Butler Community College and the University of Kansas, both rely on the state of Kansas to pay for many of the costs associated with education. However, a school like Benedictine College, a private, four year school in Kansas, does not get money from the state. It has to rely on donations and tuition to fund all of its day to day costs. As a result, private colleges tend to have a higher sticker price for students living in the state than their public, state supported counterparts. Thanks to the American financial aid system however, a private school may sometimes end up cheaper, but that’s a discussion for the Financial Aid & Scholarships board.
Keep in mind that community colleges are two year schools that allow people to prepare for some vocational careers (think welder, nursing assistant, auto-mechanic) and/or take classes which will then be used to satisfy certain education requirements at another college (Americans use “college” and “university” interchangeably). This other college is often a state school, but it might not be. The key thing to research is whether the school is a non-profit. Reputable schools like Harvard (private university, not “state sponsored”) and UC-Berkeley (public state school) are. With very few exceptions, for profit colleges have a terrible reputation in America.
So because all of the colleges I’m looking at are public, they’re state-sponsored.
Thanks!
Public means state funded.