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NANTICOKE — A new study that gauged how much students can save by going to a community college for the first two years of a four-year degree ranked Pennsylvania as offering the third best savings nationwide, and the president of Luzerne County Community College said the data suggest LCCC is an even better bargain than the state average.

Student Loan Hero compared the cost of earning a four-year degree two ways: attending all four years at a public institution, or attending a community college for two years before transferring to a four-year school. The comparison was made for each state.

Community colleges — including LCCC — have been pursuing such arrangements for years, signing agreements with both private and public institutions as a way to lower the cost of a bachelor’s degree. The study notes that the cost of credits at a community college are, on average, about 60 percent less than at a four-year public institution.

Using this calculation, New Jersey students would save the most money by attending a community college for two years: $20,993. The average public college credit is $510, while the average community college credit is $169. Illinois had the second biggest savings at $20,707. The state’s average four-year per credit cost was $487, and the community college cost was $142 per credit.

Pennsylvania offered the third highest savings, even though the average per-credit cost at four-year public colleges was the second highest in the nation, at $521. The average per-credit cost at a community college was $210, and the total savings possible by attending a community college for two years was $18,653.

LCCC President Tom Leary saw the study as further proof of his long-standing mantra: That community colleges are a smart way to keep higher education costs — and debt — down.

“I think it supports the fact that a great academic and financial path to a four-year degree is through an associate degree at a community college,” Leary said. “The major concern parents have about college is student debt, and this speaks to that issue.”

Leary said the study’s average per-credit cost for Pennsylvania community colleges did not jibe with data he usually cites. “There are different methodologies used in the calculation,” he said.

The numbers LCCC usually uses show the average per-credit cost in the state’s community colleges is $172, slightly higher than the $166 at LCCC. Leary said adjusting the calculations to match the methodology used in the study would bump LCCC’s per-credit cost to $191, still below the $210 average cited in the study.

“In both cases we’re less than the average,” he added.

Leary
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_Leary-tom.jpg.optimal.jpgLeary

By Mark Guydish

[email protected]

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish.