Connor Quinn, 19, of Worthington, enrolled in Butler County Community College’s Winter Session as a guest student. He transferred credits from the elementary statistics course he took at BC3 to the private university near Pittsburgh that he attends. Submitted photo

A Butler County Community College winter session popular with guest students seeking affordable credits to transfer toward degrees at public or private colleges or universities will begin in mid-December with a selection of 19 general education courses instructed online.

The college’s five-week winter session is scheduled for Dec. 16 to Jan. 21. Guest students can apply for admission at bc3.edu/winter through Dec. 10 or in person by 3 p.m. Dec. 11. BC3 and guest students can register for courses at bc3.edu/winter through Dec. 16.

Residents of Butler County will pay $666 in tuition and fees for a three-credit course in BC3’s Winter Session and residents of other Pennsylvania counties, $975.

Residents of Butler and other Pennsylvania counties would pay at least $1,122.60 in tuition and fees for a three-credit online winter program course at regional public four-year universities.

A technical writing II course taken online by guest and BC3 students in the college’s spring and fall semesters and in its summer sessions will be available for the first time in BC3’s 8-year-old Winter Session.

“We get a lot of guest students who are engineering majors and decide to take this course with us,” said Mike Dittman, a professor in BC3’s liberal arts division who teaches technical writing II.

Dittman said he reviewed descriptions, objectives and content of technical writing courses offered at Penn State, Syracuse and West Virginia universities when designing his online version that debuted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I definitely wanted to put my own twist on it,” Dittman said, “and I wanted to make sure the same rigor was being applied as it was at these institutions so that students would have a choice to make about getting the same value of education for a more cost-effective price.”

BC3’s credits can be applied toward a bachelor’s degree at public, private and online four-year colleges and universities.

“I would say there is absolutely no difference between the quality that BC3 offers versus the quality anywhere else,” said Connor Quinn, of Worthington.

The junior at a private university near Pittsburgh attended BC3’s 2023-2024 winter session. The elementary statistics course he took at BC3 for $945 would have cost $2,000 at the private university, he said.

“I’m a struggling college student,” said Quinn, who said he works 32 hours per week and has been saving money since he was 16 to graduate with a master’s degree with the minimal amount of debt.

Enrollment in the college’s winter session has increased 182 percent from 2017-2018 to 2023-2024, according to Becky Smith, the college’s director of records and registration.

BC3 will offer for an eighth consecutive winter session courses in elementary statistics, general psychology, human growth and development, intermediate algebra and in introduction to art.

Courses offered for a seventh consecutive session are American literature: Colonial and Romantic, American national government, introduction to music, introduction to religions of the world and productivity applications.

BC3’s spring semester begins Jan. 21 with a 15-week Session 1. The college’s 10-week Session 2 starts Feb. 10.