New Castle, PA – The most-recent survey conducted by an Iowa company with Butler County Community College students shows the college receiving increasingly higher marks in all 12 areas examined, “areas which are keys to students, not only to satisfaction, but to enjoyment and success,” a BC3 administrator said.
The Ruffalo Noel Levitz student satisfaction inventory “covers students’ experience in the classroom. The quality of teaching and instruction. It covers the quality of advising. The quality of services and financial aid. It even covers things like the quality of the buildings and grounds,” said Dr. Case Willoughby, BC3’s vice president for student affairs and enrollment management.
“To different extents, all of these things correlate to how successful a student is, and to how likely that student is to finish their experience crossing a stage with a degree in hand.”
Prospective students can begin to experience BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing during its open house April 13, the college’s director of admissions said.
“All of BC3’s facilities are absolutely beautiful,” Morgan Rizzardi said. “I think prospective students start to envision themselves as a BC3 student once they see our locations and how BC3 takes so much pride in making sure that we are a 21st-century learning facility.”
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s open house is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. April 13 at 2849 W. State St., New Castle.
BC3 will waive its $25 application fee for prospective students who apply for admission at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s open house. Prospective students can RSVP at apply.BC3.edu/open-house.
Prospective students at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s open house can tour classrooms and the facility, review the cost of attendance and financial aid options, learn about support services and student activities – and meet faculty and staff.
BC3’s faculty and staff put students “at the center of everything we do,” Rizzardi said, “and coming to an open house allows prospective students to get a sense of that.”
Adrienne Antuono, 20, of Shenango Township, expects to graduate debt-free from BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in New Castle in May with an associate degree in early childhood education
“That sold me on going to BC3”
Adrienne Antuono graduated from Shenango Junior-Senior High School in spring 2020 and registered for fall classes at a Pennsylvania public four-year university.
“I was supposed to go there,” Antuono said, “and live there.”
The Shenango Township resident questioned her plans with regard to COVID-19, then met with Susan Davis, a student services and technology support specialist at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing, in “midsummer,” Antuono said.
“That changed my mind,” Antuono said. “That sold me on going to BC3. I like the idea of being at home. I thought I would go to BC3 for a year. But I stayed. I love it.”
Visitors to BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s open house can learn about associate degrees in two-year career programs and in two-year transfer programs, and about certificates in programs that take one year or less to complete.
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing offers nine career programs in which students can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation. It also offers 10 transfer programs and two certificate programs.
“So much more affordable”
Kristine Allen is coordinator of three career programs in the college’s liberal arts division.
“Prospective students may be intimidated by the thought of college,” Allen said. “At an open house they get a chance to meet some of the faculty and tour the facilities. Knowing better what to expect can help them to look forward to school and get excited about it.”
Approximately 60 percent of BC3 students this spring are enrolled in transfer programs, according to Sharla Anke, the college’s assistant dean of institutional research and planning.
Debbie Kane is coordinator of a transfer program in the college’s business division, and also teaches courses at two universities.
“We are just so much more affordable than the four-year schools,” Kane said. “If you are going to them versus going to BC3, you are getting the same person. I try to use the same books. It’s the same courses.”
Students who attend a community college for their first two years can save an estimated $20,000 on the cost of higher education, according to the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges.
Tuition and fees for face-to-face classes this spring for BC3 students from Lawrence County cost $275 per credit.
Tuition and fees for face-to-face classes this spring for Pennsylvania residents at regional public four-year universities cost between $437 and $504 per credit, and at regional state-related universities between $572 and $1,170 per credit.
BC3 students can apply credits earned toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.
“It’s great to love where you are going”
Seventy percent of BC3’s Class of 2021 graduated debt-free.
Antuono, 20, expects to graduate debt-free from BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in May with an associate degree in early childhood education (Pre K-4). She plans to transfer this fall to a different Pennsylvania public four-year university to pursue a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.
Her student debt had she attended the Pennsylvania public four-year university for the past two years would be “a lot,” Antuono said. “Definitely a lot. I am not sure of the exact number, but BC3 is definitely more affordable. It’s amazing that I am debt-free.
“It makes me so thankful that I did choose this route and that I love it because,” she said, “it’s great to love where you are going.”
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.
The BC3 Education Foundation anticipates awarding more than $230,000 in named scholarships in 2022-2023.
Ruffalo Noel Levitz, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, administers a student satisfaction inventory at BC3 every three years, most recently in 2020. The college received the results in 2021.
Antuono echoes results of the student satisfaction inventory.
“When you go on campus (at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing), they are always greeting you,” she said. “There are always things going on. There’s always food out in the lobby and different activities. The instructors are great. So helpful. It doesn’t matter if it’s an in-person class or online, the instructors are always available to talk and to get you the information that you need.”
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s menu of two-year career programs includes accounting, business management, emergency services-police services option, health care science, human resource management, medical assistant, office administration-executive, office administration-medical and technical trades-cosmetology management option.
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s selection of two-year transfer programs includes business administration, criminology, early childhood education (Pre K-4), general studies, history, physical education-sport management option, psychology, secondary education-English option, secondary education-social sciences option and social work.
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 who take health care science courses at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing can also finish associate degrees in Nursing, R.N.; physical therapist assistant; or in technical trades-massage therapy management option on BC3’s main campus. They can also finish certificates in massage therapy or in practical nursing on BC3’s main campus.
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