Choosing a college can be a daunting task, however with all the choices that are present community college still maintains its value and integrity in local areas. This following list is a collection of three community colleges around the local Durham, New Hampshire area.
1. Granite State College
Granite State College is part of the CCSNH (Community College System of New Hampshire) and is also recognized by the New Hampshire College system, which includes University of New Hampshire, Keene State and Plymouth State. Granite State College offers both associates and bachelor’s degrees in many different fields; for the younger student the credits are easily transferable to any of the colleges in the New Hampshire College system. The older student will enjoy flexible class schedules and even online courses. Granite State College has 9 different locations throughout New Hampshire those being, Claremont, Concord, Rochester, Conway, Berlin, Lebanon, Littleton, Manchester, and Portsmouth. Tuition is relatively inexpensive compared to other colleges at $7,335. Granite State offers degrees from business to art, I would recommend looking at their website www.granite.edu to learn more about all the different degrees. Granite State is partnered with UNH which gives any student in the Durham area a great opportunity to get a quality education from an accredited university. 100% of students are accepted so there is no better time to apply!
2. McIntosh College
McIntosh College has many centers located throughout New Hampshire, particularly Dover, NH as it is closest to the vicinity of Durham, New Hampshire. McIntosh offers many different programs such as, business management, culinary arts and graphic design, just to name a few. McIntosh has many different financial aid packages available to those who qualify. The federal Pell Grant which just recently allowed for more money in the financial aid package this year is a big contributor to funding higher education. Scholarships are another great way to help pay for college, there are many avenues to go about getting scholarships, such as from the school or private investors of higher education. I encourage you to check out the other financial aid opportunities on McIntosh’s website http://www.mcintoshcollege.edu/fa/index.asp (this link will take you directly to financial aid). The price range varies with the different degrees offered at McIntosh, but from real life experience students have said they paid around $10,000 for the full degree. Degrees range from certificates to professional degrees. McIntosh unfortunately is not a satellite school of any large University in New Hampshire which makes transferring credits nearly impossible.
3. Hesser College
Hesser provides students a unique blend of real world experience with classroom education to help students achieve their goals in and out of the classroom. Hesser has many different locations in New Hampshire; however this review is on the Portsmouth, NH location. Prospective students must have either a GED or a high school diploma to be considered for Hesser. The degrees offered at Hesser range from a diploma to a bachelor’s degree; the different programs offered range from business to medical to law and design. There are a lot of different course offerings; therefore it might be a good idea to check out the following link to see all the different listings, http://portsmouth.hesser.edu/Pages/Areas_Of_Study.aspx . The price range is based on what degree you wish to obtain as there is no set tuition; financial aid packages are on their website which include loans, grants and scholarships. Hesser like McIntosh is not accredited with any larger New Hampshire Universities so credits are hard to transfer; however I would encourage you if you are looking to transfer to ask your prospective school if the credits are transferable.
Sources:
www.collegeboard.com
http://www.granite.edu/
http://www.mcintoshcollege.edu/index.asp
http://portsmouth.hesser.edu/Pages/HomePage.aspx
