Community College to Harvard: Rethinking College Admissions | Josh Lafazan | TEDxYouth@Shadyside

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Published 2017-05-11

In 2012, I chose the unconventional route for most high school graduating seniors and enrolled in community college. What ensued was ridicule from family and friends that only “subpar” students enroll in community college. In fact, my best friends told me that I was “pursuing the worst life plan ever.” Flash forward to 2016, where I’m a current student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, with a Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell. The kicker? I did this all while saving $100,000 over my first two years of college. More importantly, community college allowed me to stay home, earn money, and clarify my life goals. Whenever we choose a courageous path – to take a road less traveled – we subject ourselves to what seems like unrelenting criticism and ridicule. While facing the ever rising cost of college all high schoolers should have the courage to be different, and give community college a second look.

Joshua Lafazan became one of the youngest elected officials in the history of New York State when at 18 years of age he was elected to the Syosset School Board of Education, receiving 82% of the vote in May of 2012. Joshua was re-elected in 2015. He is the author of "Political Gladiators: How Millennials Can Navigate the 21st Century Political Minefield and WIN!" In 2016, Joshua graduated with a degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from the Cornell University ILR School. Joshua is currently enrolled at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he has been accepted to pursue a Master's Degree in Education Policy and Management.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

All Comments (21)

@joshuaaronsohn60 5 years ago

Every High school senior should watch this video before making a decision of which college to go to. Who agrees?
@hihihihere12 6 years ago

This helped me a lot because I’ve been feeling ashamed and bad about going to community college because society puts this mental reminder in your head that you have to immediately go to university when you don’t
@MariahBunni 4 years ago

This should be shown to every high school senior. I remember some of my friends that took AP courses, had 4.0 GPAs, and tons of community work were literally crying and devastated that they didn't get into their dream school. I'm currently in community college and I'm so glad I watched this video.
@michael0988 5 years ago

my guy corny at times but he cool af at the same time.
@Dontreply39573 2 years ago

I watched this in 2018 and went the CC route because of it. I barely graduated HS, but I flourished in CC, eventually got into UCLA because I did so well at CC. I think CCs really are the way to go. Also I have emailed Josh Lafazan and he seems really nice and loved to hear that because of his TEDx talk I chose to go to a CC rather than try to get into Uni right after HS. This video helped me so much in HS. It made me happy/confident in my choice to go to a CC instead of Uni.
@lumanate1493 5 years ago

Honestly nowadays unless you get accepted to like harvard idk why you wouldn’t go to CC. You save money taking classes everyone takes, you get experience with college and you actually have a better idea of what you want to do with your life. By the time you transfer some colleges want you even more. Even if I was the valedictorian of my high school I would go to CC these days. I cannot tell you how many people I know settled for the first college to accept them, changed their major 5000 times and by the end had debt to the ceiling. On top of this most had a hard time finding jobs bc they didn’t go to a top 100 school. I envy many of the people who decided to go to CC saved money transferred to like UC Berkley and end up with less debt a great education and a job almost out of the gates.
@lanyserogers 8 months ago

As someone who's a semester away from graduation at a community college, I loved watching this video. It hurt to see all my friends go to 4-year schools while i was in community college because I didn't have the grades, nor could I afford a 4-year institution. Here I am today, an honors student, in a meaningful major, with so many wonderful resources, knowledge, and peer experiences that I'd never trade for any other experience.
@jasonwasilewski4404 4 years ago

As a student graduating from a community college in a semester, I have to say that this speakers points relating to the benefits community college are spot on. There is so much stipulation between community college and four year universities for little to no reason. I have had friends who went straght to four year college not feeling prepared at all and having the feeling of not getting taught anything. While my time at community college has been beyond amazing. There is so many interesting students/staff you will meet and will learn a variety of subjects without the harassment of declaring a major. Never feel like you are throwing your money away if you are attending a community college.
@nylenezelda2807 3 years ago

I'm a senior in hs rn and I'm going to community college while all my friends are going to a 4-year uni. It's mentally exhausting thinking I'm the only one in the group not going to a 4-year uni and I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. Honestly, I'm so scared that I'll be doing all this and taking the community route just to end up unmotivated and probably homeless- but my hope is strong enough. I want to go to UCLA or UC Berkeley and study behavioral psychology.. just hope I get there.
@NC-mv1rw 4 years ago

I am about to finish community college, and transfer to a four year university. Everything you said from enrolling to attending community college was spot on. I feel seen and heard. Thank you
@abowlofsalad8812 6 years ago

I have a friend who transferred to Columbia from a community college.
@humzahhassan4521 5 years ago

Community college for two years and work then transfer to a public in state school and live at home with no need for a meal plan or a room = no debt Call it what u will unemployment rate for college grads is 2.5% even if u take out a loan with a small interest rate won’t have any problem paying back in 2018. If u complain about college cost and didn’t go this no sympathy
@biking6928 5 years ago

does anyone want to start a community college to ivy league groupchat? or just an ivy league transfer groupchat in general? we can all help each other out, critique each other's essays, share stats, etc.
@mikeo.4203 4 years ago

Community college is becoming more and more appealing. Honestly the way it is set up in California for UC schools it’s actually the smartest choice to make going to CC. I can’t wait I’m applying to 4 UC schools this fall!
@Grumbo991 5 years ago

YouTube and Uncle Google teaches me better than my professors at times
@bubblelolz12345 6 years ago

Yesss!!! Lovely talk Josh, thank you for addressing this topic! I'm all for community college and since I have a close relationship with my family I'm going to commute to cut out dorm expenses, pay for it all myself with fafsa/my waitress job (about $188 per shift) while contributing to bills or groceries; the stigma behind it is illogical and often is spread through genuine ignorance so I never really take it to heart. Older friends/relatives of mine decided to take this route and they are already set career wise with a stable job and enjoyed their experience. You're spot on concerning the various pros; as for the major portion 75% end up changing majors at least once before graduation during university because they discover what they thought they wanted wasn't really what they wanted so its a safety net for many, diversity is as well expected to be heavily prevalent, and of course financially it's a gem- the average tuition for community college being $3,335 (with fafsa its essentially free) while private being $32,405! Facts are facts and they're pretty sweet. From CC I'm going to transfer to a public university near by (only about $8,000 but fafsa helps with $5,000 so more like $2,000-$3,000) so win-win. Not that others shouldn't attend a private university, but for some reason the "prestige" label behind the matter never really appealed to me; college is ultimately what you make of it and in the end I still get my desired degree while saving/not wasting money :)
@TheMBlog 7 years ago

Great video! Community college is truly a great option that more students should consider.
@sandylewis8897 5 years ago

My neighbor's 2 granddaughters both got degrees at CC with honors. One transferred into Drexel U. and the other got a partial ride to Cornell U.
@chelsey8737 4 years ago

I go to a JC and I cannot recommend it enough. To take 12 units (full time) it costs $552 at my jc while at the 4-year CSU I'm transferring to it cost somewhere around $285 a unit. So taking 12 units cost about $3,420. That's just one semester of classes, not the books, not extra fees, dorms or transportation or anything else. Besides that there are so many different people there. There's stay-at-home moms, people taking extra classes for certifications, brand new students, 70 year olds who retired and wanted to learn more. It's amazing how diverse jcs are. I went to a pretty well off highschool but I wasn't as well off financially as a lot of my classmates so I never entertained the idea of going to an elite school. I debated my entire senior year about JC versus CSU and ultimately decided that JC would be so much better, so much easier, and is the smart option. For a few months I felt left behind almost and there were definitely people who made snide remarks or middle faces when I told him where I was going but I just decided that I wasn't going to put myself or my family in debt for a name.
@farah_lynn 4 years ago

I am happy I started at a community college, saved me a lot of money!