Pitt degree available in Butler

Who says you have to attend classes on one of Pitt’s campuses to earn a degree from the… Who says you have to attend classes on one of Pitt’s campuses to earn a degree from the University?

Starting this fall, students at Butler County Community College who have completed an associate degree can earn a bachelor’s degree from Pitt without coming to Oakland.

Pitt’s College of General Studies will offer all the classes necessary to complete a degree in the administration of justice on the Butler County Community College – or BC3 – campus. Butler, Pa., is about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Kevin Altomari, the CGS director of administration, said that although the experience in Pittsburgh is an important part of the education, many students from BC3 can’t travel to Oakland frequently.

“They are non-traditional students with different sets of responsibilities,” Altomari said. “They have families or tend to be older and more place bound.”

To earn the Pitt Bachelor of Arts, BC3 students will have to apply to CGS and meet Pitt’s admission requirements. If accepted, the students will take five Pitt classes per semester at the BC3 campus.

According to Aldomari, CGS has wanted to start this program for a while.

“We had talked to Butler County Community College some time ago, but things never moved forward,” Aldomari said. “It’s been an off-and-on conversation for some time.”

William Miller, the dean of humanities/social sciences at BC3, thinks the program is a “nice option for [BC3] students to transfer into.”

Miller also said that more than 60 percent of BC3 students say they want to transfer colleges and go on to pursue bachelor’s degrees.

Miller explained that more than 100 students are currently enrolled in BC3’s criminology department, and around 50 students are in police programs.

“That’s a good-size program for our college,” Miller said.

Information sessions about the program were held last week at the BC3 campus. Judging from these, Miller said he thinks the program will be popular, although he said it was too early to guess how many students would actually enroll.

Pitt is currently accepting applications.

Students enrolled in the program will pay the same price per credit as they would pay for credits at Pitt. They will also be eligible for Pitt financial aid.