Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is the state's largest two year college serving more than 60,000 students, offering 120 areas of study on 10 campuses in Salt Lake County. On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with Salt Lake Community College President Deneece Huftalin. Find out how the college is making higher education affordable in ways you may have never imagined and how Jordan School District students can benefit from a new Salt Lake Community College campus in Herriman.

We're here at Salt Lake Community College with President Deneece Huftalin. Thank you very much for taking time to talk with us.

Deneece Huftalin:
It is a pleasure to be with you. I'm happy to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Since becoming Superintendent, I've had the chance to meet with you on a regular basis, and I've loved seeing your enthusiasm for getting the word out about Salt Lake Community College. And the opportunities that not just high school age students, but people in the community have. The opportunities here to build from wherever they are. And you've just talked about some of the misunderstandings that people have about financing and what's available here. So I just thought it would be great for us to sit down here at the start of the school year and give some information to parents and students about the opportunities that are available through Salt Lake Community College.

Deneece Huftalin:
So I can talk all day. How long? I've got lots of ideas to share with parents and students.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right, let's do it. Let's talk right now. Let's just dive into it. What are some of the financial resources available for students? I know that for a lot of people, that's their first thought when they're thinking about college.

Deneece Huftalin:
So the number one reason students tell us that they don't come to college, or they leave college early, is finance, and so I have several things I want to say. First of all, college is more affordable than most parents think. And that is because I think they get a lot of news, national news about student debt. And most of that debt is driven off of Ivy League, high end, private, liberal arts colleges who have really enormous tuitions. And often students never pay that sticker price anyway. Community College is not that. We do not have outrageous tuition. Our tuition, in fact, we're the lowest in the state for tuition and fees. And if you fill out the FAFSA and you qualify for federal financial aid, what's called a Pell Grant, we actually pay the difference of whatever you don't get through the feds, we will cover through a scholarship.

So for those students that are really maybe in the low, low to mid income brackets, who might qualify for a full Pell Grant, we will cover any difference that there is. So for certain students, college could literally be free. Now, not everybody's gonna qualify for a Pell. And so there are still some other ways that you can finance. So we have lots of scholarships that are available. We have lots of ways that we can help you understand what subsidized loans mean and whether that's the right way for you and your family to go. We're also starting to try to hire more people on campus that are students. So if you have to work, that's okay, but work on campus. Because if you work on campus, you're mo