Local Affordable College

Budget-friendly Eastern offers college within family’s reach

With food and fuel prices leading the assault, the family budget is taking heavy fire from all sides these days. And almost everywhere, the rise in college costs — a relentless foe in the battle to make ends meet — continues to launch torpedoes.

“College-cost inflation has been running around 5-percent to 8-percent a year, more than double the average inflation rate in recent years,” the Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine reported earlier this year.

To make matters worse, the current turmoil in the credit industry is leading some banks to cut back the number of college loans they make to students — and this at a time when the Department of Education estimates that “about 80 percent of the fastest-growing jobs will require at least two years of college.”

Amidst this “perfect storm” of soaring costs and shrinking credit, a local community college remains committed to providing quality college learning at an affordable price. “We offer one of the lowest in-state tuition rates of any public college or university in West Virginia,” said Amanda Sites, director of Financial Aid at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College. “So even learners who wish to transfer later for a four-year degree can save a lot on tuition and other expenses by starting college near home at Eastern.”

For those who might need financial aid, the college partners with American Education Services. “They guarantee the loans for banks that assist our students and make Eastern a safe student loan market,” Sites said.

She also pointed to a new family-friendly scholarship that actively recruits adult learners who have been away from formal schooling for some while.

“Eastern’s Scholarship for Non-Traditional Students seeks adult learners, 24 years old or older, who have a high school diploma or GED, and who plan to attend Eastern on at least a half-time enrollment basis,” Sites said. The scholarship covers tuition and other attendance fees for up to one academic year.

Source:http://www.times-news.com/local/local_story_180234353.html