LCCC announces two programs to help students who didn’t finish

NANTICOKE — If you started but failed to complete a program at Luzerne County Community College since 2012 and still owe money, there is now an opportunity to return to the classroom and erase your debt based on renewed success.

LCCC President Thomas Leary announced the “Restart Program” Thursday, touting it as “doing what we do best, taking one person at a time and helping that person succeed.” But it also won high praise from outsiders, with The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development President Teri Ooms calling it “an incredible opportunity,” and CareerLink Luzerne County Administrator Christine Jensen saying it will do more than help local students, “it will support local businesses” by providing trained employees.

Leary said the college “did the scientific research on how this would work,” but stressed the real motivation was years of experience watching students drop out not because they lacked the ability to complete a degree or program, but because “life circumstances” interfered. He cited job loss, interruption of day care service, illness or death in the family, and most recently the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Parents had to forego their own education because they were home with their children” when schools closed and went virtual, he noted.

The program is open to former students who attended LCCC between August 2012 and August 2022, who have unpaid tuition and fees of $200 or more, and who are not currently enrolled in the district. They must apply for acceptance into the program.

If accepted, they would be eligible to have 25% of their unpaid tuition and fees relieved after the completion of each successful semester, which means their old debts could be erased completely in four semesters, typically two years. Students in the program must attend financial literacy workshops, meet with an academic advisor and/or retention specialist, complete a counseling and planning session with the college’s Career Services Office, attend a “satisfactory academic progress workshop,” and complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the current year. The program begins with the summer 2023 semester.

Former student Gerlin Paula Vasquez talked about how she had to leave the school while owing money and was given a chance to return, noting that she has moved forward as a result in her quest to become a dentist.

Leary praised her time at the school and voiced confidence she would succeed, then talked of one graduation ceremony when he handed a diploma to a woman and heard a young girl shout “mommy!” at the sight.

“It’s not only about the education of the person, it’s about the little girl who also is going to benefit from that education,” he said. “We need to go the next step, to make sure that everyone who started here in our family can finish here.”