You must provide your prospective school with your official high school transcript or official GED test results to apply to a community college in the United States. Many community colleges also require ACT or SAT test results. You will also need to fill out the application form and in most cases pay the application fee. Each individual community college has unique requirements, so it is important that students who are interested in applying to a community college research their individual school before sending in their application.
Community colleges offer many different options. Students have the option of pursuing an Associate's degree, a professional certificate, informal training, a Bachelor's degree or taking a few courses before transferring them to another college of university. Although many community colleges in the United States offer some of each of these types of learning options to their students, not all community colleges offer each type. Students should research community colleges they are interested in to make sure they meet their academic needs.
The American Association of Community Colleges notes that in 2008 there were 12.4 million students enrolled in community colleges. Forty percent of these students were enrolled full-time, while the other sixty percent were enrolled part-time. There were 1,167 community colleges in the United States in 2008 and these schools awarded a total of 609,016 Associate's degrees that year. The average annual tuition of a community college in 2010 was $2,713. Public four-year colleges, on the other hand, showed an average annual tuition of $7,605 in the same year.
Community colleges have advantages and disadvantages. The cost of tuition is often much less than that of larger colleges or universities. Community colleges also offer smaller class sizes, allowing for a more personal learning environment. However, because of the small nature of many community colleges in the United States, there are often fewer programs for students choose from. Also, most community colleges do not offer Bachelor's degrees and require students interested in earning one to transfer to another school. Sometimes college credits from a community college do not transfer over to the university.