With student loan debt soaring to the tune of $1.75 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve, affording a college degree tops the concerns of many higher-education hopefuls.

Community colleges, given their radically lower tuition costs compared to four-year public and private universities, continue to provide an economical educational pathway. Many also offer reduced rates for in-state students and lower-priced certification programs.

Financial aid deals are also available, sometimes extending to cover the costs of materials, transportation and even housing. There are unique grant and student loan opportunities, too — often with lower interest rates than common student loans.

If you thrive in a smaller teacher-to-student ratio setting, note that community college classes tend to be smaller in size, allowing for more customized instruction, extra academic help and time with professors.

If you’re unsure of what educational and/or professional path you plan to pursue or need to hold down a full- or part-time job, community colleges also let students take classes a few days a week, part-time, in the morning or evening hours, thereby creating a much more flexible and balanced approach to work and academic life.

Yet another attractive feature of community college is the range of vocational training programs available, in addition to two-year Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science, and Associate of Applied Arts degree programs. Health care, engineering, marketing, business and office, computers and data processing are just a sample of trade-oriented courses designed to help students earn a professional certificate in a shorter time frame than traditional four-year degree programs.

Transferring to a four-year college or university is also made easier at many community colleges, since they frequently establish admission contracts with public and state schools, enabling students to transfer their credits toward completing a bachelor’s degree more seamlessly.

Within the City University of New York system, which encompasses 25 colleges across the boroughs, there are more than 300 degree options for students to pursue. Tuition rates are $4,800 per year for a full-time, in-state student ($9,600 per year for out of state), and there’s also flexibility for those interested in attending classes part-time. They also offer an enormous array of support to students, said Donna Linderman, CUNY’s associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.

“Our community colleges are incredible portals to higher education for low-income New Yorkers,” said Linderman. “Six of our colleges made the Top 10 community colleges list across the country.”

Interestingly, roughly 700,000 people in New York have some college under their belt, but no degree, said Linderman. Strong in-roads are being made to attract students who may have taken a pause during the pandemic to get them to re-enroll, as well as those who have withdrawn or didn’t finish for any number of other reasons, she said.

Through the CUNY Reconnect initiative, the system is aggressively trying to reach this group and help find the right programs for them, said Linderman. Those interested will be paired with an advisor-navigator who will help the prospective student choose a new degree or certificate program, re-enroll in a past program, understand cost and financial aid options, provide financial aid grants and share available services and resources, according to CUNY’s website.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s historic $150 million expansion in August of New York State’s popular tuition assistance program, known as TAP, is another critical component that will help students go to school and get the help they need.

“This expansion will, for the first time, provide TAP to part-time students, address enrollment declines, and create pathways to an affordable education for around 75,000 part-time students who are often balancing other responsibilities such as a family and work,” said Linderman.

In addition, “Through our CUNY Comeback campaign, we’ve canceled outstanding student tuition and fee balances to students who experienced financial hardship during the pandemic, providing financial relief to more than 50,000 students who owed nearly $94 million to the university,” she said.

As many of CUNY’s students are working parents juggling work, school and home lives, “Going to college can be challenging,” said Linderman. “We offer enormous amounts of support programs.”

Diversity is also prominent within CUNY colleges. “Two-thirds are under-repped minorities, almost 40% speak a language other than English — many are the first to college in their families,” said Linderman.

Through the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, a range of financial resources and incentives are available to remove the barriers to full-time college study. All students receive unlimited New York City MTA MetroCards and additional financial assistance to help reduce or eliminate the cost of textbooks, as well as comprehensive advisement tutoring, and career services.

“It’s one of our most successful college initiatives,” said Linderman. “Students who finish graduate at more than twice the rate of other students.

“Through it, we’ve served 25,000 associate degrees. Vast numbers of graduates transfer to four-year programs.”

For those students who may not be as academically prepared for college as they could have been, “We offer pre-matriculation programs for a more intensive grounding in our core programs basic skills areas, such as math. About 4,000 associate degree-seeking students participate across our colleges annually in programs such as CUNY Start and Math Start. It’s just another example of the strong supports we’re able to offer at scale at our community colleges,” said Linderman.

When selecting a program of study, CUNY’s offerings mimic the evolving opportunities in increasingly high-demand fields such as accounting, business, computer science, information technology, early childhood education, as well as community health, public health, epidemiology and public policy.

“There are purposeful pathways into bachelor- and graduate-level programs in fields students might not know much about,” said Linderman.

Highly focused on improving their students’ career success, CUNY offers internships, and apprenticeships to get students in line for jobs in this soon-to-be bustling economy, said Linderman.

“There are plenty of jobs available,” she said.

A recent study of grad trends conducted by CUNY found that approximately 82% of all CUNY graduates remain in the city after earning their degrees, and 70% of community college grads were employed in New York state within one year after graduation; 53% pursued further education.

“That’s what’s very special about community colleges: the flexibility to meet students wherever they are,” said Linderman. “Whether a student wants to move straight into the workforce after an associate’s degree, transfer or stay with us for further education, there are programs to help them to reach their goals.”

What’s more, over 80% of CUNY students graduate from school debt-free.

“That is huge,” said Linderman. “The opportunity to graduate debt-free can’t be overstated in New York City.”