(New Castle, PA) Makenzie Perretti works to fashion permanent jewelry, and sells the bracelets, necklaces and rings in Union Township. Volunteers to serve fried fish and spaghetti dinners, and to operate a youth camp at her church in Neshannock Township. Exercises three times a week at a fitness center near New Castle, and is employed 30 hours a week her mother’s business in the city’s outskirts.
All made possible after the 19-year-old returned to Shenango Township upon realizing the “picture-perfect” public university she attended 15 miles from the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina “just wasn’t the place for me,” Perretti said.
“It was too far away. I missed my family. I didn’t feel at home.”
Perretti visited an open house at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in Union Township, “and it felt like home,” she said. “I felt very comfortable.”
She enrolled in fall 2023.
“BC3 is the best place I could go,” Perretti said. “I just rave about BC3.”
Prospective students can explore BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s associate degrees in transfer and career programs during an open house from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. April 10 at 2849 W. State St., New Castle.
BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing will waive its $25 application fee for prospective students who apply for admission at the open house. Prospective students can RSVP at bc3.edu/open-house
Guests attending the open house can also learn about BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing’s affordability, support services, financial aid options and resources such as free tutoring.
And, Perretti said, meet “very nice people who are looking to help you succeed in any way possible.”
“We definitely get students who come to us, whether it be after a semester or after a year elsewhere, and for a variety of reasons. And we find that they are very happy with the choice that they made to come to BC3.”
Perretti is a 2022 graduate of Shenango Junior-Senior High School who initially selected the public university in South Carolina, where classes had up to 40 students and where tuition and fees for out-of-state students approached $1,000 per credit.
She earned four A’s in the fall 2023 semester at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing — where classes average about 11 students and where tuition and fees for Lawrence County students were $290 per credit for an in-person course – and was named to BC3’s president’s list.
“I am confident that choosing BC3 was the best decision I have made,” Perretti said.
Sean Carroll is director of BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing.
“We definitely get students who come to us, whether it be after a semester or after a year elsewhere, and for a variety of reasons,” Carroll said. “And we find that they are very happy with the choice that they made to come to BC3.”
Lawrence County residents would pay at least $437.23 per credit in tuition and fees for an in-person course this spring at a regional public four-year university or $582 at a regional state-related institution’s branch campus this spring.
BC3’s affordability, and financial aid and scholarships, allowed 75 percent of the college’s Class of 2023 to graduate debt-free.
“I won’t have the weight of student loans on my shoulders”
Perretti is pursuing an associate degree in general studies from BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing and expects to graduate in May 2025 debt-free.
“I won’t have the weight of student loans on my shoulders,” she said. “I’m just thankful I don’t have to worry about that.”
BC3 students approved for federal and state grants will receive an average of $5,046 in the 2023-2024 academic year, according to Juli Louttit, the college’s director of financial aid.
“I am confident that choosing BC3 was the best decision I have made.”
“My life is coming together and I am thriving”
Perretti at Shenango High was a peer leader, a National Honor Society member, captain of the cheerleading squad, and performed in musicals and in chamber choir. She created her own business, Eternal Fusion, in November; volunteers at Life Changing Ministries; and cleans equipment at her mother’s business, Township Tan, in Union Township.
“I am absolutely happier to be back in Lawrence County,” she said. “I have opportunities to figure out what I want to do without being so far away. My life is coming together and I am thriving.”
BC3’s credits can be applied toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities. After graduating from BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing, Perretti said she may transfer to Youngstown State University and pursue a bachelor’s degree in marketing toward her goal of owning a business.
“I wish I could go to BC3 for more than two years,” she said.
The BC3 Education Foundation in the 2023-2024 academic year had available a record 155 scholarships that ranged in amounts from $300 to $5,000, according to Bobbi Jo Cornetti, development coordinator with the BC3 Education Foundation.
Students registered for fall 2024 academic courses can apply online for a scholarship from the BC3 Education Foundation beginning April 15.
BC3 has been ranked as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania nine times since 2015, most recently for 2024 by BestColleges.com.
The college’s summer session begins May 13 and its fall semester, Aug. 26.
