[screye]

Universities are about a few things:

1. Education - Inspiration and job training 2. High-achieving peer groups 3. Prestige and signalling 4. Fun and independence

Online courses do #1 better than CCs. Dorms are essential to #4, so CCs miss out on it. There is no prestige associated with CCs and the titular community isn't especially high achieving.

What value do CCs provide ?

[nverno]

They are stepping stones to 4-year degrees for many people. As the article mentioned, most people in CCs are planning to graduate from a university, but stuff happens.

They have some incredible transfer opportunities, where you can get half the cost of a state school for pennies on the dollar.

[endisneigh]

Though I don't entirely agree, your premises are incorrect.

1. Online is not inherently better than a CC. A CC is not entirely in person, either.

2. High achieving peer groups are not necessary. They simply need to be good enough

3. Prestige and signaling is relative - again this is adjusted to the community. A community where there are not schools could still benefit from a CC.

4. You could certainly fun at a CC, but you're right that the dorms help a lot.

[ghaff]

I guess it's a fairly low cost degree of some sort that I assume has more value than a list of MOOC certificates, evening classes, and maybe an industry cert or two in the case of IT. But there are a variety of lower cost options and I'm not sure where a community college degree sits in the hierarchy and in terms of cost/benefit.