[9YearLurker]

First, again, pull the plug on any additional taxpayer funding of college. Period. Grants too. If states want to continue their state university systems, which they will. Then fine. As it is, anyone can easily go through the associate degree level just as you suggest—live at home, and then work and/or study part-time if you can’t manage doing them both full-time. Do it year round, and part-time doesn’t take any longer than the average graduating student takes for supposedly full-time study now anyway.

But even after an associate’s degree, most systems guarantee credit transfers and acceptance to their state college system, within which such students can continue on to a bachelor’s degree (or more) if necessary.

I’m okay with four years of college for elementary school teachers, but I would have states ditch their master’s in education requirements immediately and also purge education majors at the undergraduate level. Those ed schools are what have pulled our educational system down to the sorry level it is at today.

[snoringbear]

A good post, no argument here. I have three adult daughters; one went to Texas Tech straight out of high school and is doing well, the other two which are twins went to local community college from which one went on to graduate from Arizona State, the other got her associates degree and decided she had enough and now manages a retail business. Fortunately for them I was able to put all three through college without requiring them to take out any loans. However, they did take advantage of some grants and scholarships which helped, and all three had part time jobs and worked summers. As for me, I’m a Vietnam vet and utilized the GI Bill to get my bachelors in Economics, along with working the night shift at a truck stop for four years. Anyway, got it done 🥴....