SCRANTON -- Luzerne County Community College's Scranton Center inside the Marketplace at Steamtown was quiet Friday morning. Classes don't start there until Monday.
But, inside a classroom the community college's president and the president of The University of Scranton detailed a new partnership that will benefit LCCC students.
The plan is to make it easier, and more affordable, for LCCC students to transfer to The University of Scranton.
"There are literally hundreds, and I might suggest, thousands of students who each year look for the opportunity for a path to a four year degree. That path, many times, they perceive as an obstacle," said LCCC President Thomas Leary.
"The U" will guarantee admission and at least a $10,000 scholarship to an LCCC graduate with a 2.75 GPA or higher.
"The more qualified a student is, the more credentials they are able to provide us, the higher a scholarship may be able to be afforded. So, it`s definitely a cost savings opportunity for the students who would traditionally be choosing LCCC as a way to keep them in the local region," said Caitlyn Hollingshead, Director of Graduate, Transfer, and International Admission at The University of Scranton.
Keeping them here, and cutting the cost. A community college transfer could finish a bachelor's degree in two years, cutting the cost of four years at The University of Scranton in half.
Tuition is $42,000 dollars a year. Tack on room and board, it's about $57,000.
Those students will spend their first two years at LCCC, where tuition ranges from almost $2,000 a year for in-county students to almost $4,000 for out-of-county.
"Many students will walk away unless they have that clear path, so we need as leaders of institutions, we really need to collaborate in a way that benefits our students in terms of their plans," added Leary.
Now that the agreement is in place, officials from both colleges say LCCC and The University of Scranton will start coordinating their curriculum in hopes of making the transition easier.