Dan Tingyi Liu, 22, came to this country four years ago from China. After moving from city to city, his family settled in Schaumburg.
”I entered Harper in August of 1990 with a determination to accomplish my educational goals and to overcome any obstacles that I may encounter,”
said Lui. ”I see myself as very energetic and outgoing.”
Indeed, Liu is leaving William Rainey Harper College in Palatine with a near-perfect grade-point and a long list of extracurricular involvement. He`s headed to Roosevelt University`s Robin campus in Arlington Heights for a four- year degree and then plans to attend medical school.
Liu is a good example of how students have been helped by attending a community college before plunging into a four-year institution. Local community colleges boast that their students do better once they transfer to universities. And they say that their enrollments directly from high school are rising.
Marie Montero, who took a similar path when she went straight to Harper from Hoffman Estates High School, plans to finish an associate`s degree in computer science next spring, then perhaps attend Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
Montero said Harper was the answer she needed to keep college costs down, while getting a good education and fulfilling family obligations at home.
”It would have been more expensive if I went right into a university and switched majors there,” said Montero. ”If I go to Harper, it gives me more of a chance to explore other classes.”
A two-year associate degree at Harper, for example, would cost approximately $1,980 to complete, not counting books.
Still, the strongest market that community colleges continue to serve is the working student who must juggle a job and education along with other responsibilities.
