A Community College Experience for Adult Re-Entry Students: Sinclair Community College

Community college was not in my plans. I had been accepted into several private four year schools. I had work study and scholarships lined up, but best laid plans often go astray.

Beginning college straight out of high school I managed to only get a few classes in at Wright State University, working and going to school without the financial aid I had hoped to depend on or without the "hand holding" that I would have gotten at the small private Christian school I was supposed to attend. Quickly running out of money, I ended up "quitting" college and working full time, sometimes more than one job.

After my son was born, I was determined to do something more and having always had an interest in the law, I changed "course" and decided to begin the Legal Assisting Program at Sinclair Community College.

Admission at Sinclair Community College

While there were still minimum requirements to become admitted to Sinclair Community College, they were slightly lower in terms of expectations. AP classes in high school helped me dodge some of the beginning level classes, as well as my time at Wright State University. The good news was I didn't have to take any additional entrance exams because my SAT scores were accepted, even though it had been several years since I had taken it. Looking back, it was much easier to go through the admission process at a community college especially since no letters of reference or recommendation were necessary.

Financial Aid at Sinclair Community College

Community college was my first experience with a "financial aid package." I had been only 17 when I first made college arrangements, which means my parents did everything for me. While community college did not offer a great deal in the way of scholarships, my federal and state grants went a whole lot farther with community college credit hours at $35.00/hour as opposed to $240.00 at a four year college.

Professors and Classes at Sinclair Community College

Being able to compare a community college to a four year college, I found that the classes were comparable, some were really easy at both schools and some, like my Contract Law course were very difficult, requiring a great deal of effort studying and preparing papers. What was most impressive about my classes were that many of my professors were also working, full time, just like me. But they were working and teaching in their field of choice.

Classes were also scheduled at what many may consider "strange" times. For those of us attending them they were the perfect time, just after we got off work or early in the morning before we went to work. This way many of us were able to keep our full time jobs that were sorely needed to pay our way through college as well as provide for our families.

Many of my professors at a community college were lawyers, office managers, and administrators. In many ways, this gave the classroom experience a whole new component as they could bring real life experience into the teaching, unlike in many four year colleges where professors may never have worked outside of the university environment.

There wasn't much time for social activities, those of us attending this community college were mostly adults, who had go to school in order to get a promotion, raise or a "real" job. Many of us had jobs (or more than one), families or spouses to get home too. We were lucky to complete group projects and assignments on time.

I have found that most community colleges do not offer on campus housing and my community college was no different. Most of the people I attended class with lived with their parents or their spouse. This is another reason that social activities are pretty limited, because most people did not want to return to the campus in order to participate or attend. Our concentration was on classes and studying and graduating as quickly as possible.

My community college experience definitely put me on my future path. I graduated in 1992 with an Associate of Science degree in Legal Assisting; taking only a little over a year to complete the requirements of a two year program. I spent almost 6 years working as a paralegal in a family/general practice law firm before going back into education - both to work and to get my Bachelor's degree. Best of all, many of my community college credits transferred into the four year program at the University of Dayton, saving me time and money!

Sources:
Personal Experience
Sinclair Community College