(Hermitage, PA) The 42-year-old owner of a digital marketing consulting company and author was discussing higher education with his teenage daughter and son as they dined in June in a western Pennsylvania restaurant following their move from Los Angeles.
Calliope, 19, and Sebastien, 18, were wondering where they might attend college in their new state, father Jason Rabold said.
“We spent a lot of time talking about the courses you have to take your first year as a freshman,” Rabold said, “and that at BC3 you don’t have to overpay for an education that is as good, if not better, than somewhere else.”
Rabold, a native of Boiling Springs in Pennsylvania’s Cumberland County, left what was then Bloomsburg University after his first semester in 2000, and moved to California, where he would work for more than two decades as a director, first assistant director and unit production manager on music videos, short films and features.
He did not return to college – until this fall at BC3 @ LindenPointe.
“While we were looking at BC3, I thought, ‘I could go back to school too. Why not? I never got my degree,’” Rabold said.
“And so the kids and I all decided to go to BC3 together.”
Rabold said he was impressed by the affordability, quality of education and small class sizes at BC3 @ LindenPointe, which will hold an open house for prospective students from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 30 at 3182 Innovation Way, Hermitage.
“Where your degree is from makes no difference. The education is the same. But the education is also not the same, not when you are able to get the personalized attention that you get at a smaller campus like BC3 @ LindenPointe, which has been amazing.”
Jason Rabold, 42, BC3 @ LindenPointe student
Prospective students can learn more about BC3 @ LindenPointe’s associate degree and certificate programs, tuition and fees, financial aid, scholarship opportunities and support services such as free tutoring during the open house.
BC3 @ LindenPointe will waive its $25 application fee at the open house. Prospective students can RSVP at bc3.edu/open-house
BC3 @ LindenPointe’s credits can be applied toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.
“Where your degree is from makes no difference,” said Rabold, known professionally as J. Penberth Rabold. “The education is the same. But the education is also not the same, not when you are able to get the personalized attention that you get at a smaller campus like BC3 @ LindenPointe, which has been amazing.”
Visitors to BC3 @ LindenPointe’s open house can also meet faculty and staff, tour the facility and learn about the college’s 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
“BC3 @ LindenPointe is very close-knit. You get to know your teachers one-on-one. It’s very personal.”
Calliope Rabold, 19, BC3 @ LindenPointe student
“I feel like I belong. I get more time with my professors. … They are not dealing with a large class.”
Sebastien Rabold, 18, BC3 @ LindenPointe student
Calliope is considering a career as an actor or interior designer and Sebastien, as a novelist or screenwriter.
“BC3 @ LindenPointe is very close-knit,” Calliope said. “You get to know your teachers one-on-one. It’s very personal.”
Said Sebastien: “I feel like I belong. I get more time with my professors. They have more time for me. They are not dealing with a large class. They fully help you and make sure you are staying on track.”
Lauren Buchanan is director of BC3 @ LindenPointe.
“It does come down to that small scale and the interaction you get with the instructor or an adviser,” Buchanan said. “You’re not a number. You have a name. And we recognize that. And if you aren’t there when you should be, we recognize that too.”
“There’s just more value in what you get at BC3”
Mercer County residents attending BC3 @ LindenPointe this fall are paying $300 per credit in tuition and fees for an in-person course.
They would pay at least $439.75 per credit in tuition and fees for an in-person course at a regional public four-year university or $569 at a regional state-related institution’s branch campus in 2024-2025.
“It made financial sense,” Rabold said. “When we compared BC3 @ LindenPointe to other schools the kids were considering, there’s just more value in what you get at BC3.”
The average student-loan debt per borrower in Pennsylvania is nearly $40,000, according to LendEDU, a website that provides comparisons for loans, credit cards and other financial products.
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.
Mercer County residents attending BC3 can receive up to $11,626 in federal and state grants, according to Juli Louttit, the college’s director of financial aid.
The BC3 Education Foundation has awarded 157 named scholarships for the 2024-2025 academic year to BC3 students from 11 western Pennsylvania counties and totaling $230,000, according to Bobbi Jo Cornetti, the foundation’s development coordinator.
“I’m excited to go to school today”
Rabold’s work has been recognized at the Austin (Texas) Film Festival, and at ScreenCraft TV Pilot Script and ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship competitions. He is taking courses that lead to an associate degree in English from BC3.
“BC3 @ LindenPointe is even better than I thought it would be,” said Rabold, whose first novel – “Bathory: Blood & Iron,” a historical fantasy about a 16th-century Hungarian countess reported to have killed more than 600 people – will be finished in March and published likely in 2026.
“I tell people when I was a kid, I withdrew from college because it was not my thing. I didn’t want to do it. I decided I was going back to school for me. There are opportunities here. When I wake up in the morning, I’m actually excited. I’m excited to go to school today.”