GREATER SPRINGFIELD – It’s decision time for many high school seniors. The college visits are mostly over, the all-important admissions essay is in the writing and revision stages and very shortly, it’ll be time to select the colleges, and applications, to complete.

Admittedly, it’s often hard to get past the allure of a well-appointed campus, the promise of ample financial aid and the prestige of a school’s name. But bottom line, college is an investment, one that increasingly comes with a hefty financial cost to both would-be students and their parents.

The spectre of student debt is a serious issue for prospective and current college grads, topping $1.5 trillion in 2018 according to the nonprofit organization, Student Debt Crisis. With an average of $37,172 in debt per student (though some report amounts as high as $85,000, according to a Nov. 1, 2018 article in Forbes), the issue is impacting decisions regarding marriage, having children and other life milestones for countless young – and not-so-young – adults.

With the all-important Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) open as of Oct. 1 for the 2020-2021 academic season – and advice that the sooner students get those applications in, the bigger the financial aid pool will be – it’s important to carefully consider all the options available to the college bound.

In Western Massachusetts, we’re lucky to have access to a trio of affordable places to launch a college career. Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) – located on the grounds of the former Springfield Armory in downtown Springfield, Holyoke Community College (HCC) – the oldest community college in the Massachusetts system, located on Holyoke’s border with Westfield, and Asnuntuck Community College – located just over the state line in Enfield, CT., all offer strong programming in certificates and degrees that can lead to a good-paying job in one or two years, or serve as a starting place for a BA or a BS in a range of disciplines.

Springfield Technical Community College

“You can start with us and find a pathway to where you want to go,” STCC President John Cook explained to Reminder Publishing, adding that whether students come to STCC for one of the 100 certificate or technical degrees or as a stepping stone to a four-year degree, “we give students an opportunity to build their critical thinking and their writing skills.”

As the only technical college in the state’s 15 community college system, Cook said STCC has a unique opportunity to offer would-be students a path to an immediate career in manufacturing or other technically-based employment, or the opportunity to use the system’s Commonwealth Commitment program to build on their STCC education at one of the state’s public four-year institutions such as nearby Westfield State University or schools in the UMass system.

The Commonwealth Commitment program, available through STCC, HCC and the other community colleges in the Massachusetts system, offer students who take the required transfer courses – and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher – guaranteed acceptance and a locked in tuition and fees for their final two years at a Massachusetts state college or university.

When it comes to a manufacturing career, Cook noted “we’re doing our level best to help people understand that manufacturing is a tremendous opportunity, offers wonderful wages and benefits” and one, thanks to the college’s connections to local companies in the area, that means many of its tech degree graduates “have multiple job offers and are working before they graduate.”

Cook said STCC also has the advantage of proximity for students from the greater Springfield area.

“I think one of the things that surprises people is that 80 percent of our students live within eight miles of our campus,” Cook said.

 Asnuntuck Community College

Asnuntuck Community College, located just over the state line in Enfield, CT., also offers students both a strong transfer program and opportunities to excel in programs that lead to careers in manufacturing. College CEO Michelle Coach told Reminder Publishing she feels the strengths of Asnuntuck are its smaller size, with approximately 1,000 full-time students (1,800 if you include part time and evening programs) and its graduation rate, which she said is the highest of all the two-year colleges in New England.

“We talk about the Asnuntuck family when you are here, you get the attention that community college should have,” Coach, who previously taught at both STCC and HCC, shared. “We see students go to [four year] schools and get amazing scholarships.” One of their biggest transfer partnerships, she said, is with Bay Path University in Longmeadow. Asnuntuck is also working to form a transfer agreement with Westfield State University, she added.

With other perks such as free childcare for students who are parents and an offer that lets Massachusetts residents pay the same tuition as in-state Connecticut residents – not the out-of-state rate – Coach said Asnuntuck may be worth a look for students still considering their future path who want that small-college experience.

"If a student doesn’t know what they want to do – or if they have an idea of their direction – it’s a wonderful place [to begin],” Coach said, adding, “What’s most important is that students have to find that place where they feel comfortable or at home” starting their college career.

 Holyoke Community College

Holyoke Community College – which began, according to the history posted on its website, in 1946 as the city-sponsored Holyoke Junior College – completes the triumvirate of local options where students can begin their college career either for a two-year or four-year degree.

“For many of our students, HCC was their first choice, knowing they need a year to explore (their options) and that we have a lot of support services, and are a place to take classes with some very engaging professors and gain an understanding of what direction they want to go in in their educational careers,” Renee Tastad, interim assistant vice president for Student Affairs and Dean of Enrollment Management, told Reminder Publishing.

She added, “many of our students [also] want a bachelor’s degree and understand the affordability.”

Like STCC, HCC participates in the Commonwealth Commitment program, providing an affordable and guaranteed transfer path to a state college or university for numerous degrees. In addition, HCC has a roster of workforce-oriented certificates and degrees for students looking to begin their careers in two years or less. Among those workforce degrees are a new culinary arts degree, recently revamped to meet the needs of area employers such as MGM, Tastad said.

HCC also has a well-respected program called Pathways that facilitates student transfer to private, prestigious colleges including Williams College, Smith, Mount Holyoke and Cornell, Tastad said.

“We just, this year, had one of our students [from Pathways] admitted to Yale,” she shared. “Mount Holyoke would not be putting their faith in our [program] if we were not producing quality graduates,” Tastad added. The college’s nursing degree has a strong transfer relationship with both Elms College and Westfield State University, as well as a bachelor completion program with Elms that allows students pursuing degrees in accounting, management and marketing, psychology, healthcare management and entrepreneurship to complete their degree on the HCC campus. (A similar Elms program is offered at STCC for completion of degrees in social work, computer science and computer information technology and security).

Brandi St. Romain, a biology major who is participating in the Pathways program at HCC, explained the program experience to Reminder Publishing in this way:

“It’s not just helping us with the highly competitive or selective schools and navigating the application process – I’m a first generation student and low income, so I don’t have a parent that would be able to help me navigate an application to Yale or Cornell,” St. Romain said. “Pathways runs scholarship workshops, teaching you how to apply for scholarships, where they are, how to write the essays, how to ask for recommendations from professors. The Pathways program is there to hold our hand through the whole process. They really prepare us for our next step after HCC.”

St. Romain, who at 24 falls into the non-traditional student category, said with assistance from Pathways she has applied to Smith, Mt. Holyoke and UMass, with plans to complete her biology degree with a concentration in neuroscience after graduating this spring.

Tastad said the success of student such as St. Romain is an example of the potential for students who choose to begin their college careers at a community college.

"We are trying to craft our image as to what a community college used to be and what it is today,” Tastad said. “It shouldn’t be, and is not for many students, their last choice but is their first choice for many reasons.

“The affordability is there, but the quality of the education they are receiving cannot be overstated,” she said.