[balefrost]

One strategy is to go to community college for your gen ed requirements, transfer those credits to a more prestigious university, then finish your degree there. The piece of paper will have the university's name on it, but you will have saved money in the process.

You have to do some due diligence to figure out what credits you can transfer. You don't want to waste your time and money on a class that doesn't count. But I know of some people who did this.

[the_only_law]

This is my current plan. Look to see if your state has any programs that guarantee entry. If I pick the right CC, I’m guaranteed admission (though not guaranteed any major) at the primary school I’m eyeing.

[ClumsyPilot]

That's more hacking the system than using the system as intended

[toast0]

That some community colleges focused on being 'transfer schools' was old hat when I was in school 20 years ago; there were established curriculums designed to meet the general ed requirements of UC and CSU. Since then, many states have developed programs where you can get guaranteed transfer admission to their state schools for year three and four.

It's a better way to do it anyway. Lower level courses at big schools tend to be giant lectures, but many of those are going to be higher level courses at community college. Would you rather take Calculus in a giant lecture hall or a small class room? Same with Physics and Chemistry (although those at least have lab sections that are usually size limited)