On January 17, Oakton Community College changed its name to Oakton College, joining many other schools that have taken a similar action over the past decades.  

Located in Des Plaines Il, Oakton is a popular destination for New Trier students; more than  150 New Trier students enrolling in the past 5 years for undergraduate studies. So students might be wondering: Why the name change? 

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On the Oakton college website, officials say  that the name change is mainly for the look of the name. The college believes that students, alumni, and the community overall can “better identify” with Oakton College as opposed to Oakton Community College. 

Basically, they are trying to break the negative stereotypes around the name “community college” because people usually assume that community college is an inferior option when it comes to undergraduate education. 

Aside from having to refer to it as a different name, the new title has no effect on tuition, Oakton College experience, transferability, or education. The name really is just to make for a more “comfortable” title for students, the school says.

According to Nextcity.org, more than 80 Community Colleges have removed the word “community” from their title; 40 of them in the past 30 years. 

The updated name has been something that community colleges have considered for a long time, but most of the action has happened in the past 2 years according to InsideHigherEd.com. 

Community colleges are popular: According to CCRC, about 29% of undergraduate students attend community college. That’s one reason it is important to break this negative stereotype of community college being “bad” because there are so many different reasons that people attend community colleges for reasons besides poor  grades. 

Tuition has risen over more than  20% in the last 20 years, some students may make the decision to attend a community college for financial reasons as community colleges offer education  at a lower cost. After earning a degree,  many students transfer from community college to a four-year university according to USnews.com

According to BestColleges.com, about 30% of community college students take this path and transfer out of community college to a university where they earn a degree from there, saving a lot of money in doing so. 

Overall, officials hope to remove the negative stereotype around the word “community” when talking about college and encourage High School students to recognize that community colleges can be an option for many students for various reasons that don’t include bad grades.