Erie County Community College, now a year old, has been 'a blessing' for students
Erie County Community College began its second academic year Monday with about 320 students enrolled.
That's up from 200 students registered for classes when the college first opened its doors last September.
And students are taking more classes. The number of credit hours, or class hours, that students are taking has doubled compared to last fall, college President Chris Gray said.
"Everything Erie County has dreamed about for a community college is coming to fruition," Gray said.
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When will free tuition end?
The college introduced new programs this academic year and is still covering tuition costs for Erie County students with federal COVID-19 relief funds provided by Erie County Council. Council last year allocated about $1.75 million of the county's $52.3 million in American Rescue Plan funding for local students' tuition at the community college.
"With enrollment increasing, it looks as if (the funding) will be running out this year, though perhaps it might offer little help after that," Gray said.
The funding is a cushion for students, who are not eligible for federal education grants or loans until the community college is formally accredited. The college was approved for a site visit, a step in the Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation process, in June.
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Malik Stallworth, 29, of Erie has been studying information technology networking at Erie County Community College since the school opened its doors last fall.
Married and the father of two daughters, he works nights as a hotel auditor and takes classes during the day. He previously managed a restaurant.
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"I was so stressed out that I decided to quit and go back to school. It was a blessing that the community college was just starting up at the time I made that decision," he said.
The 2011 East High School graduate plans to earn an associate degree at Erie County Community College and go on for a four-year degree and a career in IT networking or cybersecurity.
Erie County Community College has articulation agreements with local colleges and universities to ensure that students can transfer credits.
Free tuition has been a great help to his young family, Stallworth said.
"The savings are tremendous," Stallworth said. "I'm saving more than $20,000 going here."
Community colleges offer career and associate degree programs at a substantially lower cost than traditional four-year colleges and universities. When ARP funding from the county runs out, Erie County Community College tuition will be $160 per credit. The lowest per-credit cost at a local four-year college or university is $322, at Pennsylvania Western University at Edinboro.
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Stallworth will take five courses at the community college this fall.
"Having the summer off and getting back this week made me realize how much I thrive at school and how much I enjoy my time there," he said. "I would have gone on if I could have after high school, but I don't think that I was really ready then. I appreciate education so much more now."
He also appreciates the diversity of his community college classmates.
"There literally are all nationalities, all races, all different ages," Stallworth said. "It gives me a good perspective on a lot of different things. The way I look at things or plan to use what I learn is completely different from how five other people in the classroom look at things."
"I see people right out of high school, people that definitely are a lot older than me and a lot of nationalities," Steve Jaskiewicz, of Erie, said.
And they're in class for a variety of reasons.
"A lady I talked to the other day is taking a class or two at a time to enrich her life," Jaskiewicz said.
Jaskiewicz has been studying full-time for an associate degree in information technology since Erie County Community College opened on his 40th birthday last fall.
He once vowed never to go back to school.
"I hated high school. I didn't do well in school and barely passed," he said. "But I actually love going to college and was on the dean's list in the spring."
Admission to Erie County Community College is guaranteed for county residents over 18, regardless of past grades. Younger students must have a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma to enroll.
Jaskiewicz worked in IT for a time after graduating from Erie's former Central High School in 2000, and now wants a better foundation of knowledge to address hardware or security issues.
"I mostly worked with hardware issues in the past. But all the knowledge I had is 20 years old, and there are so many different IT fields now, including security, which kind of interests me," he said.
Jaskiewicz most recently worked in a foundry before quitting his job to go to school full time.
"I knew the job wasn't going to work out for me," he said.
While Jaskiewicz goes to school, his wife, a nurse, temporarily is the sole breadwinner for the family, which includes the couple's two young children.
"We made a lot of sacrifices so that I could do this," Jaskiewicz said. "We sold a house that my wife loved and got a different house. I sold my truck, and we now have just one vehicle.
"We'll have a better house and vehicle one day," he said.
New career and high school programs
New Erie County Community College programs this academic year will include a surgical technicians program offered in partnership with UPMC. Certification required for new surgical technicians by state law since October 2020 has made it more difficult for hospitals to meet a growing demand for the workers, who help prepare operating rooms and assist during surgeries.
The UPMC system had 150 openings for surgical technicians in July, a system administrator told ECCC trustees.
UPMC employees enrolled in the community college program will do class work for their new career at the community college and practical training at UPMC Hamot.
Other new programs this fall include associate degree programs in criminal justice and mobile app development and programming.
Worker certificate programs in corrections, CNC operating/programming, industrial maintenance and automated electrical systems are also new this academic year.
A dual enrollment program launching this fall will allow Erie High School and Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy students to earn associate degrees at no cost by the time they graduate from high school.
Participating students will take high school courses each morning and then study English, math, science and other general college-level courses at the former Villa Maria Academy each afternoon. Students who complete the program will be able to transfer credits to fulfill up to two years of requirements toward a four-year college degree.
"It's an awesome opportunity for students to jumpstart their college careers and save on higher education costs," Gray said.
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The community college is reserving ARP funding to pay students' tuition. The Erie School District will cover student fees.
About 10 Erie High School and Collegiate Academy juniors are enrolled in the program, which ECCC plans to expand for students throughout Erie County.
"We're hoping next year to introduce the program countywide," Gray said.
Coming soon: A fourth community college campus
Erie County Community College has been offering classes at the St. Benedict Education Center in Erie, the Erie County Technical School in Summit Township and at the Corry Higher Education Council. A fourth location, the former Villa Maria Academy on West Eighth Street in Millcreek, will house the new high school dual enrollment program this fall. More courses are expected to be offered there later this academic year.
ECCC trustees have leased the building from the Villa Maria Cathedral Preparatory Catholic School System for $500,000 annually. The college is eligible for reimbursement of half that cost from the state. The 15-year agreement includes an option to extend the lease or buy the school.
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The community college has not yet taken full possession of the building.
"It looks like that will happen in September," Gray said. "If enrollment continues to grow, we will possibly offer more classes there in the second eight-week term."
Erie County Community College has five class terms each academic year.
Still a work in progress: The nuts and bolts
Administrators continue to create processes and procedures for the new college.
"The staff has worked their butts off, but none of us has ever worked in a startup college — they don't happen very often," Gray said. "We're still inundated and overwhelmed with the bureaucracy of it and setting things up."
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A staff member's mother recently died.
"HR came to me and said, 'What do we do? We don't have a bereavement policy,' " Gray said. "I said, 'Go write one.' That kind of thing happens and will happen for some time."
The college has reached out to other colleges and organizations for policies and procedures that it can adapt or adopt as needed.
"There's still going to be something new that we haven't encountered before, probably for years," Gray said.
Learn more
Information on Erie County Community college courses and programs, schedules and admission is available on the college website at ecccpa.org, or email information@ec3pa.org or call 814-413-7000.
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNmyers.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County Community college marks 1st anniversary with new programs
