Amy Jennings values education. She has a law degree and her husband has a Ph.D. Her two oldest sons have engineering degrees from the University of Michigan.
Back in 2015, her youngest son, Kyle, was all set to follow the family pattern of enrolling at a four-year institution out of high school. He had been accepted to Michigan State University and assigned a dormitory roommate when some doubts started to surface.
“That summer before he was about to start, he told me he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do,” Amy Jennings said. “He kind of assumed he would study engineering like his father and brothers, but he knew in his heart that just wasn’t what he wanted to pursue.”
Kyle and his parents agreed he would be better off enrolled at Washtenaw Community College, where the affordable tuition would be better suited to exploring different academic and career pathways.
“Financially, WCC gave him the time to explore different things and switch his major a couple times – but he still did it within what we had allotted to spend on his education,” Amy Jennings said.
According to most recently available tuition data, completing one 15-credit semester at WCC’s in-district tuition rate of $95 per credit hour will save a student an average of nearly $6,500 per semester when compared to in-state public and private four-year universities. Add on being able to live at home and the savings was even more considerable.
Kyle eventually found his passion. He completed a General Studies in Math & Natural Science associate degree at WCC while also completing the Michigan Transfer Agreement, which provides transferability of general education requirements at participating Michigan four-year colleges and universities.
He’s now two classes shy of graduating from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science and has a job lined up with a major medical equipment manufacturer.
In retrospect, Kyle initially had misconceptions about starting at a community college. But that didn’t last long – especially when it became evident that some of his high school classmates that had gone away to four-year institutions and struggled would have been better off following his path.
“It was the right decision, I’m really glad he did what he did and I’m just so happy that he’s found his niche,” Amy Jennings said. “So many kids end up with a degree in something they’re not going to like in five years. It’s so much better to figure things out early than when you’re older and it becomes a lot harder to make changes as your life gets more complicated.”