College can be expensive, but by now, you’ve probably did a little bit of research.  What you’re going to find 99% of the time is that a community college is going to be a lot cheaper than a university.

What many people don’t tell you when you’re in High School is that you should take the first 2 years at a community college.  After your 2 years are up, you can then transfer for your final 2 years at a university.   Not only is this going to save you a boat load of money, you’re going to get that degree from the same university at the end.

When you’re thinking about joining a community college, it’s important that you  join up a college that’s going to work with another university.  You’re going to find that all community colleges have some sort of ties with a local university.  Meet with both parties and see what works the best for you.

Now, if you’re looking for some estimates comparing colleges and universities, I wanted to give you a little chart that should be able to help you out, in determining a price tag.

A community college is going to run you around $4,500 with out any type of grants.  If you have grants, it will be around $2,400.  This is going to assume that you’re going to stay at home.

An in-state public university is going to run you around $18,000 a year without grants, while you may expect to pay around $13,000 with grants.  This is going to include your travel, books, and more.

If you plan on attending a private university, this is going to be a little bit more.  Plan on paying $36,000 a year without grands, as well as $28,000 with grants.

What determines the price for me?

• The location of your school.
• What school are you attending?
• Are you going to be an in-state, or out of state student?
• Do you have any types of grants, scholarships, etc?
• Are you staying on campus?
• How far do you have to travel?
• How long are you attending?

There are going to be more factors to this, but these are the majority of the main factors that will give you a fairly good idea.

The best way to determine your exact estimates is simply by meeting with a college and discussing all of your options.