For the second consecutive year, Butler County Community College has been recognized as offering the most affordable tuition and having the highest salary-to-cost ratio among more than 40 regional colleges and universities.

U.S. Department of Education College Scoreboard data reveals that BC3's average net annual tuition of $4,727 was the lowest among 43 public and private institutions in Western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and West Virginia, the community college said.

The second lowest was Westmoreland County Community College at $7,993. The most affordable tuition among five regional Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities was $14,612. Among 21 regional private institutions, the most affordable tuition was $18,117.

BC3's salary-to-cost ratio, a measurement of graduates' salaries 10 years after graduation for every dollar a student pays to attend the institution, was the highest at 7.45. Second was West Virginia University at 4.79. The highest ratio among five regional PSSHE universities was 2.61. The highest ratio among the 21 private institutions was 2.81. BC3 in 2017 topped 41 other institutions in average net annual price and salary-to-cost ratio.

“We are very proud of that,” BC3 President Nick Neupauer said when he announced the results of the scoreboard study during Wednesday's board of trustees meeting.

He said the findings illustrate the importance of a student's return on investment.

“With the average debt load exceeding $36,000, it is incredibly important for students and parents to consider what a degree costs, the starting wage in a particular field, and factor in debt load. You also have to consider that for many jobs, the appropriate terminal degree isn't the master's or the bachelor's. It's the associate degree,” Neupauer said in a statement.

Pennsylvania college students owe an average of $36,193 in student-loan debt, the highest in the nation, the community college said, citing a study released by LendEdu in August.

Seventy-five percent of BC3 graduates are debt free due, in part, to nearly $200,000 in scholarships awarded annually by the BC3 Education Foundation.

“There are an increasing number of students who utilize BC3 as part of a proactive plan tied to affordability, possibly graduating debt-free and the appropriate terminal degree,” Neupauer said. “We are seeing more and more of that.”

BC3's classes of 2017, with 585 graduates, and of 2018, with 578, have been its largest this century.

The average salary of a BC3 student 10 years after graduation is $35,200, which is an increase of $1,500 from 2017, the community college said, citing U.S. Department of Education data.