This is logical draw again with lesson number nine, exploiting articulation agreements. A little known secret indeed jewel in the American education system is our two year community colleges. This system truly has no parallel in the world. An articulation agreement is one between a two year Community College and a four year college that allows students to transfer credit seamlessly if the articles of the agreement are met. The idea of articulation is that you complete predetermined set of courses or lesson plan at a lower cost to your college and transfer to a four year college. Without questions asked that is as long as you meet all the conditions of articulation.

Articulation agreements take the anxiety of transferring credits out of the equation. They provide a structured and guaranteed transfer path, which makes it easier to pursue college. An articulation agreement is a highly underexploited avenue to get into premier schools via the back door, often at a huge discount. But before we get into the details, Let us review to your community colleges. As we have said before, community colleges are funded largely by local and state jurisdiction and offer career training, two year associate's degree programs and the first two years of bachelor's degree programs, though also some offer four year degree programs about 20% of community college to transferring to a four year college. community colleges are the next level up from the K to 12 education system that we have either found just about everywhere, generally at least one community college per County.

The mission of community colleges has always been the same to provide education for individuals, many of whom are adults in its services. As the US economy ebbs and flows as us jobs are outsourced or the nation's as job retraining becomes a critical need. Community Colleges play a vital role in imparting continuing education to us residents, and they get lots of money from the state and federal government to conduct the admission. The facilities are excellent, though not as good as one would find it a four year university, but compellingly impressive for an incoming student. One more thing, community colleges are a great way to test drive a four year college To see if college is indeed the right choice for you. Professors are not as qualified as at a four year university, most Community College lectures of no more than a master's degree, but their commitment to teaching is generally excellent.

Many teachers have day jobs working full time in industry, and returned to the community college in the evenings teach. In fact, many students who attend community college are working full time in industry themselves, but are catching up on college credits to earn towards an associate's degree or a four year degree. The focus therefore is not on party. It's not on having fun, but instead on learning and getting home to their families after they're done in class. There are clearly some problems with community colleges of course storytelling Population tends to be older social life for the incoming student may be impacted. community colleges have fewer extracurricular activities such as sports teams, and so already clubs.

Students may have to live at home for an additional two years because community colleges do not offer residence halls. But for the cost conscious student community colleges are an excellent option. Let's look at an example. Suppose you're interested to get a degree in Biomedical Sciences at the prestigious Texas a&m University. What are your chances of getting into Texas a&m as a traditional undergrad? Even if you rate your chances high?

What would be the cost? The articulation agreement here kicks in at Austin County Community College and in district Texas resident pays $255 for Three credit hour course. The same costs 1400. dollars at Texas a&m more than five times as much ACCC and Texas a&m have signed the binding articulation agreement. Accordingly, if a student completes a predetermination list of courses lesson plan, totaling 67 credit hours, obtains at least a 3.6 GPA and does not score lower than a B in science and math. This student is automatically guaranteed admission to Texas a&m for the 30 of college. Let us look at the ROI analysis for an in State student.

For this exercise we are only considering tuition and fees but omitting all other expenses living health insurance and transportation. The traditional option is to complete the 6700 hours at Texas a&m, the first two years of college. Now the total cost is 20. $7,970 the articulation option is where you complete the 67 hours at Austin CCC and transfer to Texas a&m for the third year. Cost at ACCC is 5006 $95. Your savings are $22,000 over the first two years, resulting in a 4% uptick in ROI, all other things being equal.

And remember, we have not considered living expenses here. Plus, it was probably easier and more structure to get into timeout to begin with, without the pressure of taking psats and other college tests. You also earn an associate's degree along the way which you can add to your resume. This is a win win strategy because your four year degree will still be stamped by Texas a&m and there will not be any reference to ACCC On your diploma. Many famous Americans have exploited this route by transferring to a four year degree after attending a two year community college so you won't be alone. But how do you find colleges with articulation agreements?

Well, the best place to start is to go to the desired four year colleges website. If you Google the search words, Texas a&m articulation agreements, you will get hits of all the community colleges with such agreements with this school, including for specific fields of study. Or you could go to the college transfer website, which gives you a simple drop down menu interface for from and to colleges. Once you get a result, click towards the right hand part to download the agreement. There are always some caveats Not every four year college has articulation agreements with community colleges. Also, generally, articulation agreements are restricted to partners within a state that is the Community College and the four year college both are generally present within the same state, making transferring across state lines.

Recognizing these gaps quad learning a private company has slowly begun developing a network of community colleges and four year colleges across the country called American honors. American honors students pay a little more per year when they enter a participating Community College. The program is rigorous but because the company has long term revenue sharing agreements with private four year colleges, these students can transfer using articulation style agreements into such colleges as Duke, MIT and Cornell. The participating community colleges include Kilgore College in Texas and The community colleges of Spokane, Washington. If you have any questions, please let us know. Thank you