So far this season, we’ve talked a lot about how to make the already affordable community college experience, even more affordable. In our last two episodes of this season, we’ll shift gears and talk about how to make the most out of your community college education after graduation.

We introduced you in an earlier episode this season to the G3 program, which can lead to a community college education in Virginia being completely free. However, G3 goes beyond that and can help you find a job as well. Companies can sign up to become G3 Ambassadors and commit to guaranteed interviews and preferential hiring for G3 graduates.

Our guest in this episode, Rick Grooms is Chief People Officer for Centra Health, tells us more about how his company is helping G3 students.

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The post S3E4: Life After Your Degree: A Career with a Calling appeared first on VCCS.

While Virginia’s Community Colleges are an incredible value for education when compared to the cost of most four-year universities, sometimes students need additional help, or simply want to ensure that they’re paying as little as possible. That’s where financial aid comes in.

Our guest for this episode is Andrew Quinn, Director of Financial Aid for Brightpoint Community College, formerly John Tyler Community College.

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We’ve established that community colleges are the smart choice for a variety of reasons, including lower tuition costs. G3 is a last-dollar tuition assistance program for in-demand career fields at any of Virginia’s Community Colleges. That means for students who belong to households that generally earn less than $100,000 a year, your tuition may be covered if you continue down the career and technical path you’re on.

To tell us more about the program and how you can utilize these resources, our guest for this episode is Laura Clark, Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Student Success and Professional Development.

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Welcome to season three of Inside Virginia’s Community Colleges.

During this podcast series we spent season one talking about remote learning at Virginia’s Community Colleges, and season two discussing the community college system’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In season three, we’re going to give you information to help save money on an already-affordable community college education in Virginia. We’ll also give some advice on how to make the most of your degree or certification once it’s completed.

Our first guest for this season is Bill Fiege, vice president of learning and student success at Brightpoint Community College, formerly John Tyler Community College. Our second guest in this episode is Nora Wilkie, a student at Rappahannock Community College. Let’s jump in!

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Over the last several episodes of this podcast we’ve talked about a lot of the changes that have happened at Virginia’s Community Colleges and the rest of the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  But how have the students fared during this unprecedented period in higher education?  Our guests this week have some answers to that question.

Our first guest is Laura Clark, Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Student Success and Professional Development at Virginia’s Community Colleges.  Our second guest is FastForward Career Coach Alyssa Hawley, who works with students on the workforce and career training side of higher education.

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As we all know, teaching and learning during a pandemic have both been a challenge. Most classes in Virginia’s Community Colleges converted to remote learning in March of 2020, and those that couldn’t move online included very strict rules that were designed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Joining us in this episode are two guests who know very well the impact those changes had on learning and teaching. Our first guest is Van Wilson, Associate Vice-Chancellor for Student Experience at Virginia’s Community Colleges. Our second guest is Conner Henderson, a student at Eastern Shore Community Colleges.

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The post S2E4: Learning During A Pandemic appeared first on VCCS.

During the past year, Virginia’s Community Colleges has used every tool at its disposal to navigate the COVID-19 crisis. From changing the way classes are taught to offering Wi-Fi in school parking lots, each tactic had one thing in mind – helping students achieve their goals.

One new technique that Virginia’s Community Colleges are using is the mining and use of data for everything from determining future enrollment to trying to predict what types of classes will lead to the greatest success. Our first guests in this episode have been working with the community college system to do just that.

Our second guest in this episode has a role that is not as high tech as data mining but is no less important. Dr. Corey McCray, Associate Vice Chancellor for Programs, which includes workforce development.

Note: After the recording of this episode, Dr. McCray was named interim president of Camp Community College.

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One of the biggest constants during the COVID-19 pandemic has been change.  At work and at home, we have all made modifications in how we live, to try to stay healthy.  Those changes have been obvious in higher education, and it’s not a stretch to say that this year at Virginia’s Community Colleges has been like no other.

Our guests for this episode know a lot about how the changes due to covid-19 have impacted Virginia’s Community Colleges.  Our first guest is Dr. John Downey, president of Blue Ridge Community College.  Our second is Margaret Sproule, a career coach who works directly with students from Radford High School.

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The post S2E2: A Year of Change appeared first on VCCS.

Welcome to season two of Inside Virginia’s Community Colleges, a podcast that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at community college higher education in the commonwealth and the initiatives helping individuals reach their goals.

In this season of the podcast, we will investigate how COVID-19 has impacted students and higher education institutions in Virginia.  We’ll talk to administrators, advisors, and students about the changes they’ve made in response to COVID-19 and how Virginia’s community colleges can help Virginians recover as we hit the one-year mark of the pandemic.

Our guests for this episode were at “ground zero” of the chaos that happened as we all realized just how serious the pandemic was to become.  Our first guest is the chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges, Dr. Glenn DuBois.  Our second guest, Dr. Sharon Morrissey, is the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academics and Workforce Programs for Virginia’s Community Colleges and was tasked with co-chairing a committee to determine its response COVID-19.

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During each of the previous episodes in this season of Inside Virginia’s Community Colleges, we’ve heard from educators, advisors, and students on how remote learning works and how to get the most out of it. In this episode, we hear from two students who have achieved their goals through online education.

Our guests for this episode are students Todd Hill from Southwest Virginia Community College, and Tamra Boone from Paul D. Camp Community College.

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