Every year, hundreds of thousands of students enroll in community colleges, hoping to later transfer to university. It’s touted as a cheaper way to earn a bachelor’s degree, an educational hack in a world of ever-increasing tuition costs.

However, reality is rarely so simple. For some students, the transfer process becomes so confusing that it ruins their college plans. One of the biggest hurdles is losing credit when students take classes that never count towards a degree.

The search for solutions met with scattered success. In many states, colleges and universities have formed partnerships to guarantee the transfer of certain classes. More than a dozen states have adopted uniform class numbering systems to ensure uniformity in schools.

In Virginia, the Advance program allows Northern Virginia Community College students to have dual enrollment at nearby George Mason University. They can choose from 87 academic paths that tell them exactly what subjects they need to complete their bachelor’s degree. George Mason is working to extend this model to other community colleges.

“Students understand what is expected of them from day one,” says Jason Dodge, program director. “They know the carpet won’t slip out from under them along the way.”

First came the good news. After attending community college, Ricky Korba was accepted into California State University, Bakersfield as a transfer student. But when she logged into her student account, she got hit in the gut: most of her previous classes didn’t count.

She was told that the university had rejected most of her science classes because they were considered less rigorous than at Bakersfield, although some used the same textbooks. Several other courses were rejected because Ms. Korba exceeded the maximum number of credits that could be transferred.

Now chemistry and music are retaking subjects that she has already passed once. This will add her a year to her studies, as well as at least $20,000 in tuition and fees.

“It seems like a waste of time,” says Ms. Korba of Sonora, California. “I thought I should have gone to CSU and started hard classes and done a bunch of cool labs.”

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students enroll in community colleges, hoping to later transfer to university. It’s advertised as a cheaper way to get a bachelor’s degree, an educational gimmick in the world ever rising Cost of education.

(NEW YORK) — A new study suggests the number of U.S. children orphaned during the COVID-19 pandemic may be greater than previously thought, and the toll among blacks and Hispanics was far greater.

More than half of the children who lost their primary caregiver during the pandemic belonged to these two racial groups, which make up about 40% of the US population, according to a study published Thursday by the medical journal Pediatrics.

“These results really highlight those children who have become the most vulnerable due to the pandemic and who should be targeted with additional resources,” said one of the authors of the study, Dr. J. Alexandra Blenkinsop from Imperial College London said in a statement. .

The study found that in the 15 months of the nearly 19-month COVID-19 pandemic, more than 120,000 U.S. children have lost parents or grandparents who were a major provider of financial support and care. An additional 22,000 children experienced the death of a secondary caregiver, such as grandparents who provided housing but did not meet the child’s other basic needs.

In many cases, surviving parents or other relatives stayed behind to provide for these children. But the researchers used the term “orphanhood” in their study, trying to estimate how many children’s lives were turned upside down.

Federal statistics are not yet available on how many children in the US were placed in foster care last year. Researchers estimate that COVID-19 has led to a 15% increase in the number of orphans.

The new study’s numbers are based on statistical modeling that uses birth rates, death statistics, and household composition data to make estimates.

An earlier study by various researchers found that as of February 2021, approximately 40,000 children in the US have lost a parent to COVID-19.

The results of the two studies do not contradict each other, said Ashton Verdery, author of the earlier study. Verderi and colleagues focused on a shorter time frame than in the new study. The Verderi group also only focused on the deaths of the parents, while the new article also reflects what happened to the grandparents who looked after the children.

“It’s very important to understand the loss of grandparents,” Verderi, a Penn State researcher, said in an email. “Many children live with grandparents”, which is more common among certain racial groups.

About 32% of all children who lost their primary caregiver were Hispanic, and 26% were black. Hispanics and blacks make up a much smaller percentage of the population. White children make up 35% of children who have lost primary caregivers, even though more than half of the population is white.

In some states, the differences were much more pronounced. In California, 67% of children who lost primary caregivers were Hispanics. The study found that in Mississippi, 57% of children who lost primary caregivers were black.

The new study based its calculations on excess deaths, or deaths above what might be considered typical. Most of these deaths were caused by the coronavirus, but the pandemic has also led to more deaths from other reasons.

Kate Kelly, a teenager from Georgia, lost her 54-year-old father in January. William “Ed” Kelly had difficulty breathing, she said, and the emergency clinic suspected it was related to COVID-19. But it turned out that his artery was clogged, and he died at work from a heart attack, leaving Kate, her two sisters and her mother.

In the first month after his death, friends and neighbors brought food, made donations and were very supportive. But after that, it seemed like everyone was gone except for Kate and her family.

“There didn’t seem to be any help,” said the Lilburn senior.

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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Department of Science Education. AP is solely responsible for all content.

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