(Brockway, PA) Isabel Mercado said she struggled academically as a student at Clearfield Area Junior-Senior High School, enrolled at BC3 @ Brockway only following the prodding of her mother, “came out of my shell” and has earned nothing but A’s in her first two semesters.
“My professors,” Mercado said, “have all been amazing. I love learning from them. I feel like I have never grasped information the way that I do now. I wish I could go there for four years, that I didn’t have to transfer.”
Mercado, a 19-year-old from Grampian, is pursuing an associate degree in psychology, one of the nine career or transfer programs prospective students can explore during BC3 @ Brockway’s open house Oct. 18.
BC3 @ Brockway’s open house is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 1200 Wood St., Suite D, Brockway.
A $25 application fee will be waived for prospective students who apply for admission at the open house. Prospective students can RSVP at apply.BC3.edu/open-house.
Prospective students at BC3 @ Brockway’s open house can explore programs and instructional formats, tour classrooms and facilities, review financial aid opportunities and tuition, and learn about support services and student activities.
Nursing info session same evening
A Nursing, R.N., information session will be held at 5:30 p.m. and feature representatives of BC3 and Penn Highlands Healthcare, according to Dr. Jill Martin Rend, director of BC3 @ Brockway.
Penn Highlands Healthcare this summer announced it would help to expand BC3 @ Brockway’s Nursing, R.N., program by sponsoring tuition for select students who sign an employment agreement. BC3 @ Brockway is the only Butler County Community College additional location to offer the career program in Nursing, R.N.
Students in BC3 @ Brockway’s career programs can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation. BC3 @ Brockway’s graduating class of 2022 in Nursing, R.N., was its largest.
In addition to Nursing, R.N., BC3 @ Brockway offers career programs in business management, health care science and office administration-executive.
In addition to psychology, BC3 @ Brockway offers transfer programs in business administration, early childhood education (Pre K-4), general studies and social work.
Health care science; general studies; Nursing, R.N.; early childhood education (Pre K-4); psychology and business administration are the top associate degree programs of new BC3 students in the fall 2022 semester, according to Sharla Anke, BC3’s assistant dean of institutional research and planning.
BC3 @ Brockway students can apply credits earned toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities. Approximately 60 percent of BC3 students this fall are enrolled in transfer programs, according to Anke.
“Motivated by my professors”
BC3’s student-to-faculty ratio is 11:1.
“The classes are smaller,” Mercado said. “Even the big classes are smaller than my high school classes. I feel like you gain relationships with your professors versus being a number. It helps me to learn the material, which I feel would not happen in a class of 50 people. I feel motivated by my professors. They make me want to be there and want to do the work.
“I didn’t realize how smart I was until I went to college. And then I thought, ‘Wow. I really have some potential here.’ BC3 really helped me to get to that point in my life. I would have never been there without it.”
Mercado has twice earned BC3 president’s list honors, a recognition for students who earn a grade-point average of at least 3.75 following the completion of at least 12 credits during a semester.
She is also a member of Rho Phi, BC3’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international academic honor society whose new members must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.5.
Save estimated $20K on higher education
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 fall for students attending BC3 @ Brockway cost $280 per credit.
The most recent tuition and fees published by regional public four-year universities cost between $437.23 and $532.81 per credit for Pennsylvania residents for an in-person class. Tuition and fees for Pennsylvania residents attending regional state-related universities’ branch campuses this fall cost between $582 and $734 per credit for an in-person class.
The average student-loan debt for Pennsylvania’s Class of 2019 was $38,521, according to a January report in LendEDU, a website that provides comparisons for loans, credit cards and other financial products.
Nearly 60 percent of BC3’s Class of 2022 graduated debt-free.
Mercado plans to graduate debt-free from BC3 @ Brockway in May.
“Look at the benefits, look at the professors and everything that this school does in general for its students,” Mercado said. “You get the same education and honestly, I would say even a better education than you would if you go to a big school. And you are not going to get into all the debt.”
Students who complete a BC3 @ Brockway degree in business administration, general studies, psychology and Nursing, R.N., can transfer all credits to a parallel program at any Penn State University commonwealth campus.
Students who complete a BC3 @ Brockway degree in business administration, early childhood education (Pre K-4), psychology and social work can transfer all credits to a parallel program and with junior standing at any Pennsylvania public four-year institution.
Mercado plans to transfer to Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania at Lock Haven, and pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work toward her goal of becoming a therapist.
BC3 scholarships reach $280K
The BC3 Education Foundation has awarded a record $280,000 in named scholarships to BC3 students in the 2022-2023 academic year.
BC3 has been ranked as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania eight times since 2015, most recently for 2023 by Niche.com.
Sources in Niche’s August report included the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System; the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Post-Secondary Education and College Scorecard data; the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit public policy and research organization; and its college student survey.
Mercado said she is pleased she was urged to enroll at BC3 @ Brockway by her mother, Jency.
“I’m so glad that I did,” she said, “because I literally just love everybody.”
Students who take health care science courses at BC3 @ Brockway can also finish associate degrees in medical assistant; physical therapist assistant; or in technical trades-massage therapy management option on BC3’s main campus. They can also finish their certificates in massage therapy, medical assistant or in practical nursing on BC3’s main campus.
Students can also take pre-nursing courses at BC3 @ Brockway.
Prospective BC3 @ Brockway students can email questions to jill.martin-rend@bc3.edu or call 814-265-1813.
