Butler County Community College was ranked in August as the No. 1 community college in Pennsylvania for the eighth time since 2015.

Niche.com in August and BestColleges.com in February ranked BC3 as No. 1 in their best community colleges in Pennsylvania reports. Niche’s ranking was for 2023 and BestColleges.com’s for 2022.

“It really demonstrates how much this school invests in its students,” said Katelynn Demmler, 32, of Greenville, a social work student at BC3 @ LindenPointe in Mercer County.

“BC3 already strives to be a great school,” said Cara McGuinness, 19, of Mars, a graphic design student at BC3 @ Cranberry in Butler County. ”But they do whatever they can to keep improving and looking out for the student body.”

The college was also ranked No. 1 in the state for 2022 by Niche; by BestColleges.com in 2020 and in 2017, and by Schools.com in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

“This shows that it’s not just a flash in the pan,” said Nick Neupauer, president of BC3. “It shows that there is a level of consistency in that our faculty delivers a quality product in the classroom and that we are running on all cylinders.

“What this states for past, present and future BC3 students is a consistency in excellence. This excellence is validated again by external sources that rely on data from the Department of Education and from other data points.”

Sources in Niche’s August report included the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System; the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Post-Secondary Education and College Scorecard data; the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit public policy and research organization; and its college student survey.

Niche, a Pittsburgh-based company, is an online platform “where high school students come to research colleges they’ve heard about, discover some they might not know about yet, and figure out which schools best fit what they’re looking for,” said Natalie Tsay, a senior public relations specialist with Niche.

Niche weighted academics at 40%; value at 27.5%, professors at 7.5%, and analyzed other factors such as campus, diversity, student life, student surveys on overall experience, local area and safety.

The eighth top ranking, said Joseph E. Kubit, a 1984 BC3 graduate, chairman of BC3’s board of trustees and a Butler County judge, “evidences the high quality of the education provided to students by the faculty, administration and staff of the college.

“The consistency of these stellar rankings should instill great confidence in students considering BC3.”

The college offers associate degrees in 35 career programs, in which students can develop the skills needed to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation, and in 21 transfer programs in business, education and behavioral sciences, health care, liberal arts, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. BC3 also has 25 certificate or workplace certificate programs.

Its student-to-faculty ratio is 11:1.

“Our class sizes are pretty small, which makes it better for the students to interact with the instructors a little bit more,” said Cory Brown, 18, of Bessemer, a general studies student at BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing in Lawrence County who intends to become a health and physical education teacher. “I feel like you get a better learning experience that way.”

Chris Calhoun is a BC3 professor and president of the college’s faculty organization. He served as a park ranger with the National Park Service, as a rescue technician with the Pennsylvania Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team and is a member of the Butler County Water Rescue Team 300.

“What you have with our faculty is a group of individuals who are subject-matter experts in their field,” said Calhoun, coordinator at BC3 of the only park and recreation management program offered by Pennsylvania’s 15 community colleges.

“A lot of us have not only the academic side of experience, but we also have the professional side of experience as well, where we work out in the field. It’s a combination of both academics and professional experience that those faculty members bring to the classroom.”

Three of her instructors in the registered nursing program at BC3 @ Brockway in Jefferson County are also registered nurses with whom she works as a patient care technician at a regional health care provider, said Shereden Waddell, 26, of DuBois.

“We learn a lot through their experiences,” Waddell said. “It’s one thing to learn from a textbook, but to hear the actual stories and the scenarios and to hear what they did and why they did it helps us as future nurses.”

BC3 has 25 student clubs or organizations, six intercollegiate athletics programs, grab-and-go stations with free snacks at each of its locations and a food pantry on its main campus in Butler Township.

Activities scheduled for students attending BC3’s main campus this fall include a ropes course adventure, Oktoberfest with root beer floats and pretzels and an Everyone Has a Birthday Party event with gifts and cake. Activities scheduled for students attending BC3’s additional locations this fall include making a partially edible flower, Halloween parties and pingpong tournaments.

The lobby of BC3 @ Cranberry often has paint for students to decorate rocks, has ornaments to place on a Christmas tree in late fall and has staff members who “will say your name and ask ‘How are you?’ ‘How’s it going?’ McGuinness said. “I haven’t left there one night without telling somebody to have a great night. And they say it back to me. There is always someone there to welcome you or to send you off.”

Fetterman plays a board game with one of his instructors and other students when a classroom is available at BC3 @ Armstrong.

“It helps to get to know the professors that we have,” Fetterman said. “Everyone knows each other here. It’s a good time spending time with others here.”

BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing staff provides food and drinks in the lobby during holidays, Brown said, adding that “It creates a positive atmosphere.”

The scavenger hunts, coloring posters and other activities at BC3 @ LindenPointe “make us have a sense of being included,” Demmler said. “They open up conversations with other students. They are like an ice-breaker. All of that is extremely vital when creating a welcoming presence while you’re at the school.”

Tuition and fees for Butler County residents attending BC3 this fall cost $177 per credit for an in-person class.

The most recent tuition and fees published by regional public four-year universities cost between $437.23 and $532.81 per credit for Pennsylvania residents for an in-person class. Tuition and fees for Pennsylvania residents attending regional state-related universities’ branch campuses this fall cost between $582 and $734 per credit for an in-person class.

The BC3 Education Foundation has awarded a record $260,000 in scholarships to BC3 students in the 2022-23 academic year.

The average student-loan debt for Pennsylvania’s Class of 2019 was $38,521, according to a January report in LendEDU, a website that provides comparisons for loans, credit cards and other financial products.

Nearly 60 percent of BC3’s Class of 2022 graduated debt-free.

“Every week I hear a news report or see an article about people being absolutely crushed with student debt,” said McGuinness, who expects to graduate debt-free from BC3 @ Cranberry. “I have been fortunate enough to not have any debt from BC3. Even if you do have student debt from BC3, it is not anything near the amount you would have if you went off to a larger institution.”

Student loan debt, said Brown, who expects to graduate debt-free from BC3 @ Lawrence Crossing, “is scary. And with the debt comes stress. And I like to try to live my life stress-free.”

“BC3 is one of the best options to graduate with as little or no debt as possible,” Waddell said. “It puts you in a fantastic starting position when you start your career because you don’t have that money to pay.”

The college in 2022 was also named a Military Friendly School for the seventh time since 2013.

BC3 has three late-start dates for the fall 2022 semester. A 10-week Session 2 begins Sept. 19; and five-week Fast Tracks, with mostly online courses, start Sept. 26 and Oct. 31.