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btudisca95 t1_j8vom0x wrote

Wow this post hits the nail right on the head! I have worked for both university systems now and I will say the CSCU system vs UConn are so vastly different it’s amazing that CSCU even survives. I currently am back working for the CSCU system and worked there previously before going to UConn and it amazes me at how fucking wasteful UConn is. They are however the 4th branch of state government basically and the second they whine they get what they want. This is very reminiscent of when Herbst was UConns president and lost her mind because budget cuts weren’t gonna allow her salary to reach a million a year.

If you look at the state employee expenditures the top 10 highest paid state employees are all UConn or UConn Health employees. The real issue is that the state just shovels money into the burning fire pit that is UConn Health. It’s unprofitable, it’s expensive, yet no one wants to admit that it’s just a useless taxpayer expense.

We are the 3rd smallest state in the country but we have 2 completely separate public university systems, larger states like Massachusetts and even New York don’t have 2, you get one SUNY or UMASS. Someday the state will realize that it can’t just keep lighting money on fire and force something to be done.

However, back to the original intent of this post, as a CCSU graduate and now a current staff member I think that the state of CT really needs to reconsider its investment in the 4 CSUs, COSC, and the Community Colleges, as stated, they provide the highest number of graduates compared to UConn and they also provide the highest number of graduates who remain within the borders of the state and contribute to the economy more than UConn graduates do.

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Mysterious-Wolf-2243 t1_j8w80dv wrote

Trade schools help more than community colleges. Shouldn't we we just abandon community colleges too then by your silly logic

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KaladinsDad t1_j8wcxpq wrote

CT has a state-run votech high school system.

CTECS already exists.

Also the Community Colleges offer trades certification. Three Rivers just finished a new welding facility on the Grasso Tech campus. (HS by day, CC by night.)

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Mysterious-Wolf-2243 t1_j8wdvf0 wrote

Sounds like the same training with more cost and needless classes to me

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KaladinsDad t1_j8whhtf wrote

Are you saying get rid of the state votech High Schools? Or the trade offerings at Community College?

Unfortunately the state votech schools reject people (not enough spots) so some people need trade skills after HS, and cant get it during.

High school graduates in CT are allowed to attend the CCs for free. Seems like a good benefit to get people in trades or other certification jobs.

CCs offer things like dental hygienist and medical coding and billing that the votech system does not as well.

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BobbyBuzz008 OP t1_j8witat wrote

Community colleges are extremely vital and offers tons of certification courses from nursing to accounting to paralegals to manufacturing. We have a lot of high tech manufacturing companies in CT which are highly dependent on community college graduates, and people who graduate from our community college manufacturing programs have a 100% job placement rate before graduation.

UConn has its role as a research university and ConnCSU has its role as teaching colleges and university’s. I strongly disagree with your various comments that UConn is superior. It’s not. You can’t really compare UConn and ConnCSU because they are so different and they have different functions and they serve different purposes. UConn certainly has a lot of advantages as a research university but the state universities has a lot of other advantages over UConn as a teaching university.

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Mysterious-Wolf-2243 t1_j8wjeeb wrote

You'd rather be taught by community College professors lmao UConn has top notch scholars in their fields

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BobbyBuzz008 OP t1_j8wlze7 wrote

UConn does indeed have a lot of top notch scholars, but for the most part as a UConn student you won’t have access to them in your freshman or sophomore years.

As a student at any public higher educational institution in Connecticut, your classes are the same regardless whether you start out at community college and transfer to a four year university or if you start right at UConn. At UConn as a freshman or sophomore, you are literally paying $30,000 per year as a in state student to take the exact same classes, using basically the same exact textbooks, in a lecture hall with 300 other students learning the exact same material than you would at community college except your not paying anything because we have free community college for in state students and instead of being in a lecture hall with 300 students your in a class with 20-25 students and you actually can speak with your professor during office hours instead of waiting a week to speak to a T.A. at UConn.

And honestly, the liberal arts and social sciences programs are better at ConnCSU than at UConn for undergrad. If I had a child in college who wanted to major in English or become a teacher, I would tell them to go to CCSU. It’s much more affordable, class sizes are much smaller, and you have more employment opportunities than you would at UConn if you plan to stay local. On the other hand, if I had a child in college who wanted to obtain a degree in the sciences or a mathematics degree, UConn is obviously the better option.

It depends heavily on your major and what your priorities are in choosing your school especially as a undergrad. I think it’s insane that UConn students who attend all four years of undergrad have to take on $120,000+ in expenses now. I personally don’t see much value in that especially in your first two years where there is literally no difference in your classes and quality of your education between UConn and community colleges. But some people value “the college experience” and they really want to go to a big university with D1 sports and something going on all the time even if it will close them $60,000 extra to do it. It’s a legitimate value but not one that I or a lot of people share.

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