This article was originally published on Tuesday, February 10, 2015 and is only presented for historical purposes. The information below may no longer be relevant or accurate.
If you’re cash-strapped, here’s a well-trodden path toward a bachelor’s degree: Start at community college, which is cheaper and more flexible; get a bunch of credits there; then transfer to a four-year college to finish. Arizona’s Maricopa community colleges, which enroll more than 265,000 students a year, have received a half-million-dollar grant to track students who’ve moved on, and to automatically give them an associate’s degree if they’ve completed enough coursework.