Your Golden Ticket to a USA Education

Your Golden Ticket to a USA Education is the 2nd part in a series of posts from my upcoming book, Your Golden Ticket to College in the USA, which explains every step in the process of saving you and your family tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars by going to a community college for your first two years as an international student and then transferring to a four year university for your final degree.Before I unwrap your Golden Ticket a little more and explain how to take advantage of attending a community college for your first two years, here is a little background on the culture in the USA and why our attitudes towards community colleges are opening the door of success to international students all around the world.Success = $$$ in USAIn our culture here in the USA, to think of success in terms that do not revolve around money is almost impossible. The very term “successful” connotes material and financial wealth so much that the two terms mean the same thing.It���s difficult in the USA to even imagine a person described as successful as being poor or even middle class in this country.Even though the dictionary defines success as “the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted”, it doesn’t specify what that something should be; yet we associate success with money and material wealth and this is so intrinsic to our cultural perception of the term that it’s difficult, if not impossible, for any of us not to be at least somewhat influenced by it.The problem is, just as myths about community colleges are not true, neither is the association of money and success and success with happiness.Although research shows clearly that the best predictor of happiness is the relationships you have with others and the amount of time you spend with family and friends, in the USA, this might as well mean be sure to spend time with friends and call your family on the weekends while you have some time between study sessions while attending classes that cost, even at schools in the Best Value list, about $37,000 per year for out of state tuition.From the time they are entering kindergarten; most USA children are put on a path that is ivy-lined with dreams of attending a top-tier university and graduating into a high paying position at a company where their parent’s networking connections are now affording their recent college grad entry into the middle class lifestyle.After a decade or so, while enjoying the benefits of earning an above average paycheck, their child will continue working their way up to upper class and beyond – all as a result of going to ‘the right school’.For these people, going to a community college and not gaining access to the elite jobs and networking opportunities that come from attending a top university is eschewed as a nightmare.Record High Levels of Student Loan DebtFor the past 50 years, a university degree has been the first ticket needed to enter the American middle class. And the debt that a student accepted to get this ticket was offset by the knowledge that they could pay it off from the better jobs they would get thanks to the school they went to. Promotions were counted on and it was expected that their degree would guarantee a great series of jobs.Sadly, this is no longer the case in the USA. Today, the greatest challenge facing our students is a growing difference between what they owe and what they are making from their job.Recent research on student debt show that 2/3rd of graduates are taking on debt on their way to graduation. In our past, USA students used to consider this good debt because it was worth paying for a university degree because that ticket was so valuable later in life.Now we are realizing this is a different economy and it’s almost impossible to get rid of student loan debt even through bankruptcy in the USA.As a result, in 2012 our nation held more than $1.1 trillion of this inescapable debt and the average student owed about $30,000.Community Colleges Are Not Considered CompetitionIn the USA, people believe that the more money you spend on something the higher its value. This philosophy permeates every aspect of our culture.By increasing the difficulty of getting accepted into any institution, people in the USA also believe that the value of attending that institution is higher.We have media like US News and World Report, Forbes, Business Insider, Princeton Review, and others creating annual lists of the top colleges where the most miscellaneous details are ranked from best to worst.In this country, how selective a college is (how difficult it is to get into) means it is more competitive and therefore it is more prestigious and it is usually a rationale for a school to raise the cost of tuition. USA students perceive that the limited number of seats available equates to the college being of higher value and therefore more desirable and therefore worth the money.But many people here in the USA are realizing that community colleges are an option that provide excellent value and a quality education and can be used to obtain the first two years of required courses at less than half the cost of a university.Back in 2008, 44% of all undergraduates were enrolled in community colleges. And today this percentage is still growing even though many people believe community colleges are still second-tier, lower value, and not competitive to universities.Your Golden TicketSo you and your family, if you follow the steps in my upcoming book, can eventually watch you walk down the aisle from Rutgers, or Princeton, or Virginia, or the Florida State University and receive your bachelor’s degree.  All of your will be smiling because as an international student you were smart enough to realize that you paid far less than half of the four year’s tuition (average today to be close to $100,000+) because you took advantage of going to a community college first!Keep reading for more posts from my upcoming book, Your Golden Ticket to College in the USA, which explains every step in the process of saving you and your family tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars by going to a community college for your first two years as an international student and then transferring to a four year university for your final degree.You can learn more about my upcoming book and other ways I’m helping international students get their student visa and come to the U.S. for their college education, visit my author site at www.Mikemward.comIf you have any question or comments, I would love to hear them. Write to me here at [email protected] and remember that you are awesome!GoUSA!– Mike