(Brockway, PA) Prospective students can explore BC3 @ Brockway’s eight associate degree programs, learn about the transferability of its credits and discover tuition savings compared to Pennsylvania’s public four-year and state-related institutions during a virtual visit or in-person tour as part of BC3 Bound beginning March 30.
Prospective students can schedule a virtual visit, or an in-person tour of BC3 @ Brockway, 1200 Wood St., Brockway, for select BC3 Bound dates and apply free by entering the code BC3Bound2021 at bc3.edu/bc3bound.
BC3 Bound at BC3 @ Brockway will be held March 30-31, April 13-14, April 20-21 and April 27-28.
During a virtual visit or an in-person tour, prospective students can ask BC3 representatives about financial aid, BC3’s five start dates each semester, BC3’s 14:1 student-to-faculty ratio, support services and BC3 @ Brockway’s programs of study.
BC3 has been ranked as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania five times since 2015, most recently for 2020 by BestColleges.com. The BC3 Education Foundation annually awards more than $200,000 in named scholarships which, with financial aid and BC3’s affordable tuition, allowed 80 percent of BC3’s Class of 2020 to graduate debt-free.
BC3 @ Brockway offers associate degrees in five transfer programs and in three career programs.
Credits transfer to four-year institutions
BC3 @ Brockway students can apply credits earned toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities. Students in BC3 @ Brockway’s career programs can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately after graduation.
Approximately 70 percent of BC3 students at all locations this spring are enrolled in transfer programs.
BC3 @ Brockway’s selection of two-year transfer programs features business administration, early childhood education (Pre K-4), general studies, psychology and social work.
BC3 @ Brockway’s two-year career programs include business management, office administration-executive and Nursing, R.N.
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 to any Pennsylvania public four-year institution.
Students who complete a BC3 @ Brockway degree in business administration, general studies or psychology can transfer all credits to a parallel program to any Penn State University commonwealth campus.
BC3 @ Brockway is the only BC3 location other than the college’s main campus to offer the career program in Nursing, R.N. Students can also take pre-nursing courses at BC3 @ Brockway, where they can finish their associate degree.
BC3 savings range from $3K to $27K per year
Full-time BC3 students from Clarion, Clearfield, Elk and Jefferson counties 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 Clarion, Clearfield, Elk and Jefferson counties pursuing 15 credits per semester for one year during the 2020-2021 academic year 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.
“…BC3 makes it possible”
Cooper Bray, 20, of Brockway, expects to graduate from BC3 @ Brockway in May with an associate degree in psychology with “minimal debt,” he said. “Nothing compared to debt accrued at a lot of other colleges.”
Following his 2019 graduation from Brockway Area Junior-Senior High School, Bray enrolled at a Pennsylvania public four-year university and “It wasn’t the right fit for me.
“So I looked around and BC3 just kind of jumped out at me because of the affordability,” Bray said. “BC3 was less than half the cost of any other school that I was looking to transfer to. That’s really important because trying to get a degree with little to no debt is really hard.
“But BC3 makes it possible. They give you a quality education at a small financial cost compared to a lot of other colleges.”
Bray said he transferred 17 credits from his semester at the Pennsylvania public four-year university to BC3. He has been recognized on BC3’s president’s list and lauds the “family” atmosphere he finds at BC3 @ Brockway.
“You have smaller classes and your teachers know you by name,” Bray said. “When I was at the other college, we’d have classes of 30 and the professor wouldn’t be able to learn all of our names. Here it’s a lot easier to get time with teachers if you need to get help from them.”
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.
Prospective BC3 @ Brockway students can email questions to jill.martin-rend@bc3.edu or call 814-265-1813.