From InsideHigherEd, here. Read it all. The intro:
Boost for Community Colleges Means 1-Year Bust for Universities
New analysis of Oregon Promise tuition-free scholarship program found that it increased community college enrollment but decreased enrollment at four-year institutions in the first year, and that fewer first-generation and low-income students benefited financially than expected.
Can we honestly say we provide better education at lower cost compared to, say, LCC?
Yes I think we can say that in some discipline areas – particularly those associated with research labs. In other aspects, LCC does a much better job than the UO.
Many students would be better off getting a two-year degree and banking the extra two years of salary.
The direct comparison would be two years at LCC followed by a transfer to UO, versus four (ha!) years at UO. To my eyes, the former would typically seem the better deal, even accounting for the disruption of transferring. (Plus, an opportunity to take a welding class!)
If your kid is driven and bright, though, it’s UO. If they’re doing STEM, in these glory days of the Internet, there’s no limit to how much they can learn here.
Some classes will be more or less equivalent. There are a lot of disciplines that are only offered at the UO, not at LCC, and if you want to get far in them, you’ll want to be able to start before your junior year. There’s also the upheaval of transferring — starting over with a different group of people, finding your way around the system, feeling integrated. In those ways, 4 years at the UO, instead of 2 and 2, is an advantage.