Nearly a year after introducing its Bulldog Promise Scholarship Program, Pitt Community College is giving members of Pitt County’s Class of 2022 an opportunity to earn a two-year degree, tuition-free.
Established in May 2021, Bulldog Promise is available to Pitt County public, private and home school students who have taken PCC courses through the Career & College Promise program or the PCC-Pitt County Schools Technical Academy and are nearing high school graduation. To date, 50 students from last year’s graduating class have taken advantage of the initiative.
“The first year of the program has been a tremendous success, and we’re accepting applications now from the Class of 2022 for the 2022-23 academic year,” said Brian Jones, PCC Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Services. “Students are benefiting from free tuition at PCC and making progress toward completing a credential to join the workforce or transfer to four-year universities to complete bachelor’s degrees.”
One of those students is Benjamin Moles, who is planning to major in physiology and minor in sports journalism at a four-year school, after completing an associate in arts degree at PCC. The Grimesland resident began taking PCC courses while he was at D.H. Conley High School and enrolled full-time at Pitt last summer, after earning his diploma.
Moles, who wants to become either an athletic trainer or physiologist, says he has nothing but “love and appreciation” for his Bulldog Promise Scholarship and added the program is “a great way to help more people get into college” and better their chances of success in life.
“This (scholarship) has gifted me with the opportunity to begin furthering my education with no tuition to be paid, and I could not be more grateful for the opportunity PCC and the program have handed to me,” he said.
According to Jones, Bulldog Promise is saving local families thousands of dollars on higher education by offering participants up to four semesters of community college courses, tuition-free. To be considered for the scholarships, he said students must complete a minimum of 12 curriculum credit hours, or four curriculum courses at PCC, with at least a 2.0 GPA. They must also intend to enroll at Pitt in the fall semester immediately following high school graduation.
“Bulldog Promise is tremendous incentive for Pitt County high school students to begin their college careers at PCC in a dually-enrolled capacity and then complete what they started at Pitt after receiving their high school diplomas — again, tuition-free,” Jones said.
All five of PCC’s academic divisions are serving Bulldog Promise participants. The highest concentration of students (17) were enrolled in college transfer curricula during the 2021 Fall Semester. Fifteen students were taking Construction and Industrial Technology programs, including seven in HVAC, and another 11 were enrolled in Associate in General Education courses, working to complete health sciences admission requirements.
Jones said Class of 2022 members can apply for Bulldog Promise Scholarships through their myPittcc accounts. The application is available under “Digital Forms” within the “Students” tab.
Additional information on the Bulldog Promise Scholarship Program is available on the PCC website, www.pittcc.edu. Students may also reach out to Jones at [email protected] or (252) 493-7867.