BC3 Bound to Highlight Lawrence Crossing’s Advantages

(New Castle, PA) Prospective students can explore BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s 19 associate degree and certificate programs, and learn about the transferability of its credits and its savings compared to Pennsylvania’s public four-year and state-related institutions during an in-person tour or virtual visit as part of the college’s BC3 Bound Event.

BC3 will also waive its $25 application fee during the BC3 Bound Event, to be held from Nov. 10-12. Prospective students can schedule an in-person tour or virtual visit to be held between Nov. 10-12 – and apply free by entering the code BC3Bound2021 – at bc3.edu/bc3bound.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing is located at 2849 W. State St., New Castle.

During an in-person tour or virtual visit, prospective students can ask BC3 representatives about financial aid, BC3’s five start dates each semester, BC3’s 17:1 student-to-faculty ratio, support services, BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s programs of study and how 80 percent of BC3 graduates are debt-free.

BC3 has been ranked as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania for 2020 by BestColleges.com. The BC3 Education Foundation in 2020-2021 will award more than $200,000 in named scholarships which, with financial aid and BC3’s affordable tuition, allow 80 percent of BC3 graduates to graduate debt-free.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing offers associate degrees in nine transfer programs and in eight career programs. Its selections also include two certificate programs that take one year or less to complete.

Credits transfer to four-year institutions

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing students can apply credits earned toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities. Students in BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s career programs can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately after graduation.

Sixty-six percent of BC3 students this fall are enrolled in transfer programs.

Alaina Cantakis, of New Castle, attended BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing, earned an associate degree in child development and family studies and in 2020 was a member of BC3’s fourth consecutive graduating class of at least 560 graduates. She is shown during BC3’s commencement on Aug. 1, 2020.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s menu of two-year transfer programs features business administration, criminology, early childhood education (Pre K-4), general studies, history, physical education-sport management option, psychology, secondary education and social work.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s selection of two-year career programs includes accounting, business management, emergency services-police services option, human resource management, medical assistant, office administration-executive, office administration-medical and technical trades-cosmetology management option.

Certificate programs in medical assistant, and in medical coding and billing specialist, are also among the choices at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing.

Students who complete a BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing degree in business administration, criminology, early childhood education (Pre K-4), history, psychology and social work can transfer all credits to a parallel program and with junior standing to any Pennsylvania public four-year institution, such as Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock universities of Pennsylvania.

BC3’s 486 outgoing transfer agreements with Pennsylvania public four-year universities are the third-most among the 14 institutions within the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges.

Students who complete a BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing degree in business administration, criminology, general studies and psychology can transfer all credits to a parallel program to any Penn State University commonwealth campus.

Students can also take pre-nursing courses at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing and finish their degree in Nursing, R.N., on BC3’s main campus.

BC3 savings range from $3K to $27K per year

Full-time BC3 students from Lawrence County can save $3,115 annually in tuition and fees compared to the average charged by Pennsylvania’s public four-year universities or $5,785 compared to the average charged by Pennsylvania’s state-related institutions’ branch campuses.

Tuition and fees average $11,215 for students pursuing 15 credits per semester for one year in 2020-2021 at a Pennsylvania public four-year university; $13,885 at a state-related institution’s branch campus; $16,926 at a state-related institution’s main campus; and $35,087 at a private institution.

Tuition and fees for BC3 students from Lawrence County pursuing 15 credits per semester for one year in 2020-2021 are $8,100.

The average student-loan debt for the Class of 2019 was $38,521 in Pennsylvania, according to an Aug. 19 report in LendEDU, a website that provides comparisons for loans, credit cards and other financial products. Only student borrowers in New Hampshire and Connecticut were reported to have higher student-loan debt.

“I know that it is definitely a lot,” said Alaina Cantakis, of New Castle, who attended BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing, earned an associate degree in child development and family studies and in 2020 was a member of BC3’s fourth consecutive graduating class of at least 560 graduates.

“I feel like it is overwhelming, how much debt there is for the degree that you get.”

Cantakis, who has begun a position in a Lawrence County daycare facility working with kindergarteners through third-graders, also earned president’s and dean’s list honors while attending BC3.

Students who achieve president’s list honors have attained a cumulative grade-point average of 3.75 or higher during a semester in which they have earned at least 12 credits. Students who achieve dean’s list honors, a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 to 3.74.

“I think it is important to save money for other things,” Cantakis said. “I got my first job right out of school and I am saving my money for other things.”