About Community Colleges

There are more than 1,200 community colleges in the United States which offer the first two years of study after high school. They represent over 40 percent of all higher education establishments in the United States. Most community colleges are public and are funded by local taxes. Many of them are urban and do not have dormitories on their campuses.

More than half the nation’s undergraduates study at community colleges to complete their first two years of university study. They choose to study at community colleges because they can receive personal attention from their instructors, the tuition is less expensive, and the class sizes are smaller than in a university setting.

Community colleges usually have arrangements with universities so that the credits students earn during their two years of study at community colleges are easily transferable to allow students to finish the last two years of their four-year Bachelor’s degree at a university of their choice.