I got through a few degrees going a very non-traditional way. While I didn't start at community college, I used it to augment my course record in order to complete a bachelor's. What I found, amazing to me at the time, was the community college courses I took were at least as good, and sometimes better, as the in-state university that I was augmenting. (And said university had an excellent reputation). The CC happened to be closer to me than Uni and cheaper, so I tried a few courses there. I would counsel any kid with financial issues attending university, to strongly consider taking CC courses. Many CCs are set up that their course credits will automatically be accepted at 4 year colleges in that state or county.
Re military service:
Hey, I realize that we probably don't want our kids going into the military at this particular time. But it IS an option. And if a kid is smart enough (does well enough on the ASVAB, or whatever they use these days), and has kept their nose clean through their teens, they will have their choice of occupational specialty and can likely pick a REMF job that will set them up well for their post-military career. For example, intelligence / cyber-security analyst. (And hoo boy is that going to be a booming profession for the foreseeable future). REMF = low (but yes non-zero) probability of being sent to any high risk trouble spot. (for those not knowing, the RE = "rear echelon" and you can guess the rest. But the US military still needs them.)
= new reply since forum marked as read