2-Year
The most common 2 year college that students attend is one of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) schools.
Laurel Ridge Community College (formerly known as Lord Fairfax Community College) has multiple locations in the area. Rappahannock County High School works most closely with Laurel Ridge, but you can attend any VCCS school.
Laurel Ridge offers traditional associates degrees (2 year college) and certifications (shorter term programs). They also have Workforce Solutions programs which are fast paced trades trainings programs that train you quickly in a high needs job to get you into the field quickly.
Most programs/degrees are available at all community colleges, but some programs are only offered at a few community colleges.
To see the programs and degree offered at Laurel Ridge click here
To find which community college is closest to you, you can visit this website.
Learn more about gaining your associates through Laurel Ridge
Associate's Degree
Guaranteed Admissions: Most public colleges/universities in Virginia and some private schools have an agreement with the Virginia Community College System called Guaranteed Admissions. This means that when you complete your associate degree, if you keep good grades and meet any other requirements that they have you will have automatic admissions into the 4 year college or university. In order to do this you have to get an associates degree that is marked as transferable.
Not sure what you want to study? There is an undecided associates degree you can work towards!
You will then just complete the last 2 years to then receive your bachelor's degree. So, you can still complete your bachelor's degree in 4 years total.
You can learn more about Guaranteed Agreements and see transfer agreements (what dictates the specific factors that must be met to automatically get in) here.
If you are interested in eventually transferring to a 4 year college or university make sure that is clear to your academic adviser at Laurel Ridge so they can help you make sure that you are staying on track to transfer.
Transferring Credits to a 4-Year
If you are currently enrolled in high school and intend to transfer your credits to a 4-year school, you must review your school's policies for transferring those credits over. Most schools require you to send over both your Laurel Ridge transcript to your's school's registrar's office. You can do this via Parchment.
Additional Resources/ Links
Interested in a 2-year school but worried about housing and other resources? Community colleges have resources to help you! The Single Stop Screener provides information about housing and other resources that may be helpful to incoming students.
Example: Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA)
