6 Myths About Your Local Community College
by Terry L. Rock and Carol Jonson
1 Myth
The Name Game:
You can call us "Only Chance College," or "Twelve Mile High," or "Harvard on the Highway." We don’t care. Because, as the old saying goes, "names will never hurt us." You see, we would rather put our reputation on the line than get into a discussion of what you call us.
Oakland Community College is the largest community college in Michigan and the 14th largest in the nation. We’re fully accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Numerous programs, such as those in the health and legal fields, have individual accreditations by state and/or national associations or organizations. Ask any of the 750,000 people in Oakland County who have attended OCC since 1965. They’ll tell you OCC gave them the best possible education. Which brings us to…
2 Myth
A Degree from OCC isn’t as good as a university degree.
Now wait a minute. Whoever started this one must have been absent the day they taught common sense. In many cases, a degree from OCC is a step directly into the job market. It means a career with responsibilities and chances for promotion and personal growth. Or, an OCC degree can mean going on to attend the university of your choice and graduating with a baccalaureate degree, which opens up a host of other possibilities. Remember, attending OCC for two years gives you two years to save money, and that could give you the opportunity to go away to a university without going into debt for the next 10 years. We want you to go someplace else – after us. It’s even in our motto: "Get anywhere from here."
3 Myth
The people who go to OCC are the ones who can’t get in anywhere else.
Wrong! All sorts of people go to OCC. In fact, more than 15 percent of Oakland County high school grads make OCC their choice. And we have the largest freshman class in the state of Michigan. We offer courses and programs from A to Z – from business and computers to auto servicing, from early childhood development to health care, from robotics to welding. We have better records than a lot of four-year schools on the licensing exam for registered nurses. In fact, "U.S. News and World Report" (that’s a magazine your parents read and you used in a footnote once in your sophomore year) reported that community college graduates perform better academically than "native" university students (students who began at the university). See, it’s not just hype!
4 Myth
OCC faculty isn’t the same as faculty in four-year schools.
That’s true. At OCC, faculty members care about you and about how and what you learn. We recruit faculty from across the country to give you the benefit of diversity. And 93 percent of them hold advanced degrees related to what they love to do – teach. You’ll usually share the classroom with only about 24 other students. We don’t have lecture halls that hold 500, and we don’t use graduate assistants, so, yes, we educate you differently than large universities. We offer you faculty who are current and up-todate with what they are teaching. We don’t think that at OCC you just get as good an education as you get elsewhere. We think you get a better one.
5 Myth
The courses don’t transfer.
Bunk! Our transfer credits transfer. That’s what they’re designed for, and they’re designed in cooperation with the universities in the state. In fact, we have articulation agreements with state colleges and universities that will accept your OCC associate degree credits with no strings attached. The OCC Transfer Center and counselors are just a phone call away, and they’re happy to help you with any transfer questions. You’d be surprised where OCC students transfer. The top seven schools in 2001 (based on requests for transcripts) were: Oakland University, Wayne State University, Michigan State University, Walsh College, Western Michigan University, University of Michigan – Dearborn and Eastern Michigan University.
6 Myth
Community colleges are cheap, so they can’t be any good.
You get what you pay for. We prefer to say we are "affordable," not cheap. At OCC you don’t always pay for what you get. OCC is supported with money from three main sources: property taxes, funding from the State of Michigan and your tuition. The last one is the smallest. If you paid the full cost of what this quality education is worth, you’d be paying a lot more each year. Would that make you feel better?