BC3, Guest Students Can Work Ahead, Save Through College’s Summer Courses

Butler County Community College’s nearly 150 summer session courses lasting four to 12 weeks will provide an opportunity for BC3 and guest students to complete required courses in preparation for the fall semester or to advance toward graduation, a BC3 administrator said.

Students can choose from courses instructed online, or in person on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township or at its additional locations of BC3 @ Armstrong in Ford City, BC3 @ Brockway in Brockway, BC3 @ Cranberry in Cranberry Township, BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in New Castle and BC3 @ LindenPointe in Hermitage.

Courses in the college’s three summer sessions and two Fast Tracks can help BC3 students, said Amy Pignatore, the college’s dean of admissions and the college registrar, “and our guest students to catch up on a class or to get ahead, or complete a prerequisite course to transfer to their home institution.”

BC3 “an economical choice”

BC3’s four-week Session 1 begins May 13 with courses instructed online, or in person on BC3’s main campus, at BC3 @ Cranberry, BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing and BC3 @ LindenPointe.

The college’s 12-week Session 2 also starts May 13 and features online courses and those instructed in person on BC3’s main campus, at BC3 @ Brockway, BC3 @ Cranberry and BC3 @ LindenPointe.

An eight-week Session 3 begins June 10 with courses instructed online or in person at all BC3 locations.

Five-week Fast Tracks are instructed mostly online and start May 13 and June 24.

Students can learn more at bc3.edu/summer

Most of BC3’s summer selections are general education courses “that students need to complete their degrees,” Pignatore said. “BC3 is close to home. And it is an economical choice. Why not take the courses at a lower cost?”

Butler County residents will pay $561 in tuition and fees for a three-credit in-person course at BC3 this summer and residents of Pennsylvania counties other than Butler, $870. Pennsylvania residents will pay at least $1,263.96 in tuition and fees for a three-credit in-person course at regional public four-year universities and $1,656 at regional state-related universities’ branch campuses.

“BC3 was just more affordable”

BC3 students Shaylee Walls, 20, of Saxonburg; Grace Johnson, 21, of Zelienople and Shaylin Tresselt, 20, of Slippery Rock, each took at least one three-credit course during the college’s 2023 summer session to work ahead or to stay on track for graduation.

“I didn’t look at other colleges for summer courses,” Walls said. “I knew BC3 was the right choice for me. I knew through friends and family who have attended here that BC3 would be very affordable.”

Johnson, a native of the Philadelphia area, “looked at other colleges back home for summer courses,” she said. “BC3 was just more affordable.”

“BC3’s affordability is great,” said Tresselt, a native of Texas who considered other colleges near Butler County for summer courses. “BC3 was right up my alley.”

Walls, Johnson and Tresselt plan to graduate debt-free from BC3 in May with associate degrees in park and recreation management-general option.

Butler County residents will pay $636 in tuition and fees for a three-credit online course at BC3 this summer and residents of Pennsylvania counties other than Butler, $945. Pennsylvania residents will pay at least $1,122.60 in tuition and fees for a three-credit online course at regional public four-year universities and $1,656 at state-related universities.

BC3’s summer 2024 selections include courses in college writing, environmental biology, ethics, general psychology, human anatomy and physiology I and II, introduction to art, preparatory or intermediate algebra, recent U.S. history and speech.