More and more students and parents are realizing that community college (also called junior college) is one of the greatest untapped resources when it comes to getting an education in a cost-efficient manner. In fact, President Obama has made the community college system in America one of the cornerstones in his plan to expand access to higher education.

What makes community college such an intriguing option is its unique combination of affordability, excellent instruction, increased acceptance rate to four-year schools, and an overall less risky transition from high school to college life. In fact, I find community college to be such an excellent option that I recommend that all students at least consider doing a year or two at a community college, even if they have more than enough money to go to a four-year school.

Right off the bat, the savings at a community college are jaw-dropping. Take the Los Angeles Community College District, which is the largest community college system in the United States. Students attending any community college within the system pay around $25 per unit for their undergraduate classes. By comparison, students at nearby UCLA pay more than $175 per unit, on top of higher registration and other fees. Over the course of just a couple of years, that can easily add up to $10,000 or more in savings.

But the costs don’t stop there. Because most community college students typically live at home during those couple of years, the cost of room and board will not likely change from what a student or family is already used to paying for. This can result in an additional $5,000 to $10,000 in savings per year.

Granted, community colleges only offer a two-year associate’s degree for those who do not transfer to a four-year school. However, this still results in an average increase of more than $400,000 in lifetime earnings compared to high school graduates.

All in all, a community college education can easily save a household roughly $10,000 to $20,000 in expenses, even if the student goes on to earn a four-year degree. In addition, at bare minimum, her income can be expected to rise nearly 50 percent over that of someone with just a high school diploma.

There’s a great double-benefit to students staying in their current living situations and attending a community college part time for two or three years: they can work and continue to save money. For students who cannot financially afford tuition at a four-year school, or who don’t want to take out massive loans, working and going to community college part time solves a lot of problems.

Imagine that a high school student goes to work part time and community college part time, with the commitment of sticking half of his earnings into a savings account. With 20 hours of work per week, at roughly $10 per hour, he’d earn a little over $10,000 before taxes for the year. Because most students would continue to live and eat at home, they could easily save half of that, or $5,000 per year, to help pay for future college. After two or three years of bumping off general education classes at a much lower price, the student is now also ready to go off and finish at a four-year college, armed with an additional $15,000 in savings. Even adults with families working full time could take advantage of this, knocking out a couple of classes per semester online while continuing to work and fill up their financial war chest for their educational homestretch.

Although many four-year colleges want their students to attend their school for all four years, many other colleges actually welcome transfer students, granting a higher percentage of acceptances than to freshman applicants.

This occurs for a couple of reasons—primarily because community college students with strong grades are proven students who are highly likely to finish their studies (which is a stat that affects college rankings). Also, many of the larger state schools are maxed out when it comes to housing and facilities for their freshman and sophomore students, whereas transfers tend to live off-campus and not strain limited resources.

How significant is the change in acceptance rates? Although some private, liberal arts colleges may give only a slight edge to transfers, some state school acceptance rates go up by as much as 50 percent! If you have a particular school in mind, you should do some research and see if there is an advantage or disadvantage from an admissions point of view to attending a community college first and trying to transfer in later.

I’m going to put all my expert hats on at one time here. As a financial planner, a family therapist, and someone who has worked with at-risk teens, one of the best things a parent can do for an out-of-control teen is to not send her off to college. Really, these kids don’t need more freedom, less oversight, and a whole bunch of new influences.

Time and again, I’ve watched kids who graduate high school and go to community college get their heads on straight much more quickly than those who go to a four-year college and have a second adolescence (like yours truly). I’d go so far as to say that for teens who have been discipline cases in high school, there’s a good chance your college tuition bills will drag on for longer than four years, if the students finish at all.

In my experience, kids who go on to a four-year school after doing a few years at community college and working a real job approach those last two years with a lot more seriousness. It’s not that they don’t have fun or indulge in the college experience, but they’re just a tad more mature and tend to keep their eyes more focused on the finish line.