While some may argue this is not much in regards to tuition, this can get you VERY far in a community college. See this tuition graph here: http://www.maricopa.edu/about/?tuition
I went to Maricopa community colleges and I had better instruction there than I had at the big schools. The best teachers I had were at community college.
So while some argue its not much, its almost enough to cover your tuition for a year at a community college.
If someone has the drive, they'll go do it and take advantage of the program.
I absolutely agree. I attended College of the Albemarle for two years before transferring into UNC-Chapel Hill.
The teaching quality at COA was astoundingly much higher at COA than at UNC.
At UNC most of my classes, even at the higher level, were taught by graduate students who had clearly received little to no instruction on how to effectively teach. They were there to learn and research, not to teach.
At COA my classes were taught by professors with a graduate degree in the field (usually a PhD) who were dedicated to the art of teaching. They were there to teach, not to research.
Of course higher education should be dedicated to research and expanding our knowledge, but that doesn't mean that they are good at sharing the basics.
Hmm, never heard of College of Albermarle. I don't disbelieve you -- most survey courses get taught in the 50-300 person seater rooms at UNC-CH. I just don't recall grad students teaching most of my courses, even the survey courses, whether they were in CS or Math (my majors) or the graduation requirements from social sciences, philosophy, etc. I had only one course taught by a grad student -- graphics. Which was your major at UNC-CH?
My degree is in History. I also took a lot of math and computer science courses: all but one of my math courses was taught by a grad student. All but a few of my history courses were taught by grad students.
Since I transferred in I never actually took one of the 100+ person courses.
I'm a grad student at the University of Arizona, and many of my students say they prefer math / science classes from community colleges precisely because so little real teaching happens in lower division classes at the U of A.
I went to Maricopa community colleges and I had better instruction there than I had at the big schools. The best teachers I had were at community college.
So while some argue its not much, its almost enough to cover your tuition for a year at a community college.
If someone has the drive, they'll go do it and take advantage of the program.