This shortest month of the year should long be remembered at BC3.
Our college in February joined in new partnerships with the Butler Area School District and with Robert Morris University, and received approvals that will officially turn a project 10 years in the planning into the Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health building.
Dr. Brian White, superintendent of the Butler Area School District, announced to the school board during a public meeting Feb. 22 a new Early College Pathway program that will allow Butler Area seniors to earn free, transferrable college credits at BC3 beginning this fall.
Seniors can take funded courses in college writing and in college study skills and, while on our main campus Monday through Friday mornings, pursue elective courses at their own cost.
The program will be funded by the Butler Area School District, and partially by the BC3 Education Foundation, Inc. Students at Butler Area Senior High can contact their school counselors for additional information.
I signed an agreement Feb. 11 with Robert Morris University that enables BC3 students to be admitted and enroll simultaneously at the four-year institution in Moon Township.
The new RMU Gateway partnership will allow students at BC3 along with Community College of Allegheny College, Community College of Beaver County and Westmoreland County Community College, to take up to 12 credits at Robert Morris as they pursue an associate degree from their community college. RMU’s tuition for those 12 credits will match what students pay at their community college. Students who complete their associate degree can then transfer seamlessly to RMU to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
The RMU Gateway initiative will be available to our students beginning this fall.
Our board of trustees Feb. 19 authorized the college to issue $9 million in bonds to help finance an $18 million south campus construction project whose centerpiece will be the state-of-the-art Victor K. Phillips Nursing and Allied Health building, which will help to train tomorrow’s healthcare providers.
The bond financing will augment more than $4 million in gifts the college has received toward the building, whose construction could begin in the third quarter of this year. Within two years, a hospital-like setting will welcome BC3 and Grove City College students, along with those to be enrolled in our new licensed practical nursing program.
A short month long to be remembered at BC3 for serving our most important asset – our students.
Dr. Nick Neupauer
