Keeping college affordable is a big deal these days. Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is helping to keep the cost of higher education low.
Students wanting to earn four-year degrees can save about $10,000 by first earning their associate's degree at SLCC and then transferring to one of the state's universities.
SLCC Promise is a tuition assistance program that started in 2016 to help full-time students cover the cost of tuition when federal grants fall short. When a student is eligible for only some federal financial aid, SLCC promises to pay the rest. To date, the Promise program has awarded $2.75 million to more than 2,000 full-time students.
In fall 2020, SLCC is going to make the program available to three quarter-time students. More than 80 percent of SLCC students work while attending school, and because of this many take fewer classes to meet employment and family obligations.
Online classes are another great way students who need flexibility can keep on track with their schooling. In recent years SLCC has expanded the number of online courses and currently there are 10,000 students taking online courses. In fact, SLCC Online would be the second-largest campus if it were a physical site.
Reducing or eliminating some of the other costs are very important as well. That includes textbooks which can be surprisingly expensive. SLCC has a program called Open SLCC, which is an initiative that replaces textbooks in the classroom with free, high-quality online education resources. Open SLCC has been available since 2014 and since that time 133,000 students have saved more than $11 million in textbook costs.
You can find more atslcc.edu/promise or you can search for Open SLCC on slcc.edu, or stop by one of the four Admission offices - those locations are also on the website and there are counselors there who can provide you with any information you need.
