<p>The article does say:</p>
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<p>Could it be that her goal school was University of Maryland, College Park, but she did not get in, and balked at paying a lot of tuition for a “lesser” school? Going to community college for another try at the flagship (as a transfer) is certainly a valid strategy which has been used for decades (and is often explicitly encouraged by state university policies).</p>
<p>Community college certainly has other advantages for some students, such as less pressure to decide a major quickly (good for undecided students), and ability to attend part time (good for those who must work a lot, although it may reduce the success rate of reach transfer-readiness in reasonable time). But students who are advanced to the point of wanting to take upper division courses as freshmen or sophomores would likely be less satisfied starting out at community college.</p>