<p>Many of us who were applying to college out of high school on the East coast in the 1970s and 1980s are still learning what the role of community colleges is in California in the 21st century. To us, community college was for the kids who did not get into four year colleges and as a result were attending a CC to learn a trade. It was not really seen as a stepping stone to getting a four year degree and California’s policy of giving CCC students priority in admissions to UC and CSU over transfer applicants from other four colleges is very counter-intuitive.</p>
<p>California is probably unique in making community colleges an integral part of its higher education system and not an educational backwater. </p>
<p>As an earlier poster remarked, CCCs have no admission standards and that could be one reason why they do not get more respect. While there are strong highly motivated students like most of the posters on this forum who work hard to put themselves in a position to go to a four year school, there are a lot of students in CCCs who do not seem to be accomplishing much of anything as less than 25% of high school graduates who enroll in a CCC eventually succeed in transferring to a UC or a CSU.</p>