BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s Advantages On Display At Nov. 3 Open House

New Castle, PA) Prospective students can explore BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s 21 associate degree and certificate programs, and learn about the transferability of its credits and its affordability compared to other regional colleges and universities during a fall open house Nov. 3.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s open house is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 2849 W. State St., New Castle.

Attendees will be allowed to bring one guest because of BC3’s current health and safety guidelines.

BC3 is temporarily requiring face coverings to be worn indoors at all BC3 locations. Face coverings must be worn by all students, faculty, staff and visitors in shared spaces inside college facilities, including classrooms and communal spaces, regardless of vaccination status. Individuals with a medical exemption must provide proper documentation from a medical professional.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing will also waive the $25 application fee for prospective students who apply for enrollment at the open house. Prospective students can RSVP at apply.BC3.edu/open-house.

Explore career and transfer programs

Prospective students attending the open house can explore career and transfer programs, and instructional formats, tour classrooms and the facility, and review cost of attendance and financial aid options. They can also learn about support services and student activities and how BC3 has been ranked as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania six times since 2015, most recently for 2022 by Niche.com.

Niche.com, Pittsburgh, analyzed information from the U.S. Department of Education, from the Brookings Institution and from other sources in areas such as academics, value and professors in ranking BC3 first in its 2022 Best Community Colleges in Pennsylvania report.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing offers associate degrees in 11 transfer programs and in eight career programs. Its selections also include two certificate programs that take one year or less to complete.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing students can apply credits earned toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.

Approximately 71 percent of BC3 students this fall are enrolled in transfer programs.

Credits transfer to four-year institutions
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s selection of two-year transfer programs includes business administration, criminology, early childhood education (Pre K-4), general studies, health care science, history, physical education-sport management option, psychology, secondary education-English option, secondary education-social studies option and social work.

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s menu 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.

Students in BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s career programs can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately after graduation.

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.

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 @ Lawrence Crossing credits affordable

The BC3 Education Foundation in 2021-2022 will award more than $200,000 in named scholarships. Scholarships, financial aid and BC3’s affordability allowed 70 percent of BC3’s Class of 2021 to graduate debt-free.

The average student-loan debt for Pennsylvania’s Class of 2019 was $38,521, according to an April 27 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.

Tuition and fees for students from Lawrence County attending BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing this fall cost $275 per credit for a face-to-face class.

Tuition and fees for Pennsylvania students attending regional public four-year universities this fall cost between $437 and $504 per credit for a face-to-face class. Tuition and fees for Pennsylvania students attending regional state-related universities this fall cost between $572 and $1,170 per credit for a face-to-face class.

Approximately 83 percent of BC3’s credit classes this fall are face-to-face, about 14 percent are online and 3 percent are remote.

Online courses are delivered only online and at any time. Remote courses include video conferencing, email and Internet-based learning management system formats and are held at a specific time.