[jimt]

Taking classes at a community college, while cheaper, don't pay off very well.

Depends on the CC, and the courses you take.

Everything I took was directly transferrable at full credit for my engineering degree. Back then (1970s) the prices were different, but not like today.

What WAS different was the quality of instruction. My calculus classes were taught by a guy who drew in multiple colors graphs of differentiation, integration and analytical geometry from a book that was very readable and understandable.

My poor buddy who went directly to the four year school was taught by a Chinese TA who wrote on the board simultaneously with both hands, and whose book was gobbledygook.

Guess who's much better at calculus still ?

[redgolum]

I actually had a very similar experience in the late 90’s. I took calculus at a local community college. The teachers was a lot better.

But having that on my transcript came back to bite me a few times. Employers and recently grad schools ask why I took the classes at a community college, and one stated that is a “worrisome” thing.