BC3, Penn State closer to co-location in Sharon campus
BUTLER TWP — Some Butler County Community College students may attend classes on Penn State Shenango’s campus in the next few years.
BC3 officials are in the midst of conducting a feasibility study on the possibility of co-locating on Penn State Shenango’s campus, and most recently they met Oct. 4 at Penn State Shenango in Sharon, Pa., to gather more information.
BC3 president Nick Neupauer told the college’s council of trustees at a meeting Wednesday, Oct. 25, that the Penn State Shenango campus could offer more opportunities to the shrinking number of BC3 students who attend BC3 @ LindenPointe. The two campuses are located five miles from each other.
“It’s not unusual for there to be other colleges or universities on one campus, but this is taking it to that next level, and we are excited about it,” Neupauer said. “Our LindenPointe is one location — (Penn State) is a campus. So students will have so many more opportunities there.”
Enrollment at Penn State Shenango for fall 2023 is projected to be approximately 325 students, and at BC3 @ LindenPointe about 55. Ten years ago this fall, enrollment at Penn State Shenango was about 570 and at BC3 @ LindenPointe, about 270, according to a news release from BC3.
BC3 @ LindenPointe offers associate degrees in 15 programs and Penn State Shenango in five programs.
Penn State Shenango has bachelor’s degrees in seven programs. Executives will also explore pathways for the seamless transfer of BC3 credits toward bachelor’s degrees at select Penn State campuses and the sharing of space.
Megan Coval, executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and external relations, said an initial report on the feasibility study could be ready by mid-January. The study, she said, involves people from both institutions looking at the strengths of each college, the opportunities it would open for students, and what the schools would need to do to get the co-location off the ground.
Coval also said the Penn State Shenango campus offers more activities than BC3 @ LindenPointe.
“What we’re excited about is that Penn State has a wonderful campus, so I think we are hopeful that our students will be able to share and utilize those common spaces,” Coval said, “things like the gym and cafeteria, and an opportunity to even interact with Penn State students.”
Although a successful co-location would mean that students enrolled at BC3 would inhabit the campus of another university, Coval emphasized that the two schools would still be separate, because a co-location is not a merger.
“We will remain two separate individual institutions, and the idea would be BC3 would have a presence on Penn State’s campus,” Coval said. “There’s lots of opportunity in there to work together with Penn State, but from an academic standpoint … we will remain BC3, they will remain Penn State.”
Neupauer said BC3 has relationships with several other state universities, and students from other colleges are constantly on BC3 campuses. During the trustees meeting Wednesday, Neupauer also said rates of student graduation from BC3 — 31% — are above Pennsylvania’s average of 15%. This reinforces his confidence that a co-location with Penn State Shenango would pay off.
“Over time, we have had other institutions offer classes at BC3,” Neupauer said. “Slippery Rock University, Indiana University — and La Roche University still does. This isn’t an unusual model, but as time goes on, you might look at the model differently.”
