(Hermitage, PA) Butler County Community College’s Class of 2021 is expected to include residents of 17 Pennsylvania counties, and a Hubbard, Ohio, married father of two who earned an associate degree in business administration at BC3 @ LindenPointe in Hermitage.
Kade Swartz, 26, is among the 30 percent of graduates in BC3’s Class of 2021 who are 25 years of age or older. Swartz began his pursuit of the 60-credit degree while living in Grove City, and continued his education at BC3’s additional location after moving 25 minutes away to Hubbard.
“I just enjoyed being in school there,” Swartz said. “I enjoyed pretty much every professor that I had. It was also more affordable to do what I wanted to do. It makes no sense to go somewhere that was closer and end up paying thousands of more dollars. But the main thing for me is that I liked my professors.”
The affordability of BC3 @ LindenPointe, he said, was important as he and his wife, Kalie, raise sons who are ages 4 years and 5 months.
“That’s one of the big reasons I chose BC3,” he said.
Full-time BC3 students from Mercer County could 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 in the 2020-2021 academic year.
Tuition and fees averaged $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 Mercer County pursuing 15 credits per semester for one year in 2020-2021 were $8,100; and for out-of-state students, $11,100.
Swartz, a weightlifter for nine years, works full time at a national retailer and plans to open and operate his own physical fitness center.
“With that as my goal, having my degree is going to help me,” Swartz said. “I’ve had accounting classes which will help me whenever I am able to attain my goal.”
BC3 @ LindenPointe offers associate degrees in 11 transfer programs and in four career programs. Its menu also includes a certificate program in medical coding and billing specialist that takes one year or less to complete.
Grove City student second-youngest
BC3 @ LindenPointe’s selection of two-year transfer programs features business administration, communications, computer science, criminology, early childhood education (Pre K-4), general studies, physical education-sport management option, psychology, secondary education-English option, secondary education-social sciences option and social work.
BC3 @ LindenPointe’s menu of two-year career programs includes business management, emergency services-police services option, human resource management and marketing management. A certificate program in medical coding and billing specialist is also among the choices at BC3 @ LindenPointe.
Business administration is in the top five most popular programs among graduates in BC3’s Class of 2021, according to Becky Smith, BC3’s associate director of records and registration.
Swartz is among the expected 461 students who earned associate degrees in career or in transfer programs, or certificates or workplace certificates in the college’s Class of 2021.
The college’s 53rd commencement will be held May 19. BC3 is expecting to award 436 associate degrees and 46 certificates or workplace certificates, according to Smith.
BC3’s Class of 2021 includes John Dougan, of Kittanning and at 64 the college’s most senior graduate in 2021; and Julianna Bonnett, 19, of Zelienople and at 19 BC3’s youngest graduate. Bonnett was born 12 days after Alexandra Cavolo, of Grove City, who earned a workplace certificate in entrepreneurship.
The college’s Class of 2021 also includes Toni Gilmore, 57, of New Castle, a grandmother of 11 who earned a certificate in a 38-credit medical assistant program offered at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in New Castle.
