New opportunities in tech are emerging in Southwestern Pennsylvania, prompting colleges to find ways to prepare more students for these in-demand roles. 

Thanks to a $1.7 million boost from the Build Back Better (BBB) Challenge Grant, the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC), a two-year public college, is expanding its STEM programs — including the hiring of a new leader to connect local youth with tech opportunities. 

It now offers students new opportunities to learn in-demand skills in various tech fields, like cybersecurity or robotics, creating opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach for locals, said Kristi Farrow, lead faculty for CCBC’s cybersecurity program. 

“Beaver County is a little bit economically depressed,” Tom Peyton, associate professor and technical faculty lead for artificial intelligence at CCBC, told Technical.ly. “If you can’t see it, you can’t do it, so we try to expose our students to things outside the steel mill and show them what these new, modern economy jobs look like.” 

For many, the financial burden of higher education can be overwhelming, especially when job prospects after graduation remain uncertain, which is where community colleges step in. 

In Pennsylvania, the average cost of college tuition ranges from $16,000 to $47,000 per year, with total costs – factoring in loans and lost income – reaching nearly $500,000 for a bachelor’s degree, according to the research group Education Data Initiative. 

At CCBC, however, an average 12-credit semester costs about $3,000, or about $6,000 per year. 

“Being from Beaver County, born and bred, there’s not a lot of money here and there’s not a lot of opportunity here, at least it didn’t feel like it growing up,” Isaiah Zahn, a student studying cybersecurity at CCBC, told Technical.ly. 

Zahn, now in his mid-thirties, originally obtained an English literature degree at an expensive private university, but eventually “hit a ceiling” with his earning potential, he said. He decided to return to school and chose CCBC for its affordability. 

Now he sees “so much more opportunity”, he said, and not just for earning potential but the ability to positively impact his community. 

For example, CCBC used the BBB funds to add a penetration testing course to its cybersecurity program, allowing students to learn how to counteract cyberattacks, as well as free cyber workforce development courses for professionals which launched in July. 

“This [college] really offers people a way to not only move up in the world,” Zahn said, “but also be able to live their lives without the constant threat of being pulled under a rip tide.”

In partnership with the New Economy Collaborative (NEC), an 11-county coalition of over 90 organizations tasked with deploying $62.7 million across five projects, CCBC aims to help students land real-world jobs in emerging industries. This initiative is part of NEC’s Project 3, which aims to upskill Southwestern Pennsylvania’s workforce and expand career pathways.

Funds go toward new STEM programming for youth

CCBC is reaching into a younger talent pipeline, too. 

Another major change at CCBC made possible by the BBB funds is the expansion of its STEM Academy, a dual enrollment program that allows local high school juniors and seniors to earn up to 28 college credits before graduation. 

The program will add a cybersecurity track this fall, providing even more opportunities for students to jumpstart their careers in tech, said Mike Leonard, CCBC’s STEM Champion, the liaison between local high schools, other universities and the community college. 

Leonard’s position, created through the BBB funding, has fostered new collaborations between CCBC and nearby universities like Carnegie Mellon, Penn State and La Roche, allowing students to more easily transfer their CCBC credits to four-year institutions. 

The funds have also been used to purchase new equipment, incorporate artificial intelligence into various programs, add a Python coding course, support faculty enrichment opportunities at Carnegie Mellon University and fund STEM scholarships for economically disadvantaged minorities, according to Peyton. 

Beaver County resident Gabrielle Gretch started at CCBC during her senior year of high school, originally studying nursing. She later switched to the cybersecurity program, which costs just $3,500 per semester. 

“I’m so happy that I went the community college route just because of how affordable it truly is for all of us,” Gretch said. 

Gretch is working to launch a Women in Cybersecurity chapter at the school and said CCBC offers students who wouldn’t normally see themselves in tech an opportunity to enter the field. 

From Leonard’s perspective, the BBB funding has provided “multiple, almost endless” opportunities for Beaver County. 

“We’re really just trying to create opportunities for students and make them economically viable,” Leonard said. “We don’t want to see students saddled with six figures of debt, and I think we provide a great way for them to get a high-quality education with the latest and greatest technologies on a budget.”