ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – On Monday, Bay College hosted an event to help students in all stages of life start or continue their educational journey.
According to Director of Admissions Jessica Beaver, Rapid Enrollment Day is a chance for those considering a community college education to get the answers to any questions they have ahead of the winter semester.
“If you need some help filling out your FAFSA, if you have any questions about classes or the programs we offer, you can also talk to us about campus housing if you’re interested in living here on campus,” Beaver said. “It’s really just kind of an all-encompassing day to kind of help students and potential students get what they need.”
Once a student is enrolled, Bay’s Escanaba and Iron Mountain campuses offer resources to ensure they have tools to help them succeed.
“Beyond basic tutoring, we offer additional tutoring that we can piggyback onto some of those more challenging courses,” said Beaver. “We also help with placement testing. There’s people here to help you work through scholarships or find different financial aid applications.”
Beaver says those resources don’t just apply to students’ academic lives.
“We like to call them holistic services, if you will,” she said. “We have a food pantry, we have a career closet. We have two in-person counselors and then one of them also will do virtual appointments as well.”
Eligible students can also apply for Bay’s grant-funded TRIO Program, which provides additional opportunities.
“We will take people to go explore campuses like NMU,” Beaver said. “Some people have maybe never been to a city before, so they’ll coordinate a weekend and take a bunch of students down to Chicago or something and go to art museums and that kind of stuff.”
Beaver says Bay College’s goal is to make education as accessible as possible for every age and type of student, whatever that may look like for them.
“That means if you get a new job, you can hit pause if you need to,” she explained. “If you’re looking for a new job but you want to maybe change directions, we can help you get in and start classes as early as January 8th. Community college is for everybody, so we try to be really flexible and accommodating for what it is that people need so that they can get that education, that credential, get that degree.”
For more information about educational opportunities and resources available through Bay College, visit the Student Services front desk on either campus, call (906) 217-4010, or email admissions@baycollege.edu.
