Nassau Community College (NCC) Introduction and Academics

Introduction

Created in 1959, Nassau Community College (NCC) is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) educational system. The NCC campus is located in suburban Garden City, Long Island, close to Hofstra University. Enrollment during the school’s first year of operation was 632 students, but today NCC is the largest of New York’s 30 community colleges, with more than 21,400 students who attend full time and part time.

NCC is fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and authorized by the New York State Board of Regents to award two-year Associate Degrees in Arts, Science, and Applied Science, also known as AA, AS and AAS degrees.

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Information Summary

Ranks 185th in New York and 2684th overall. See the entire top 2,000 colleges and universities list
Overall Score (about)	54.9
Total Cost On-Campus Attendance	$7,680
Admission Success rate	N/A
Student Ratio Students-to-Faculty	25 : 1
Retention (full-time / part-time)	65% / 52%
Enrollment Total (all students)	17,406

Academics

This school offers its students associate’s degrees in more than 70 fields of study, including liberal arts, accounting, Africana studies, respiratory care, desktop publishing and design, photography, radiation therapy, art, commercial art, media, criminal justice, English, foreign languages, hospitality business, paralegal studies, information technology, interior design, fashion design, nursing, teacher assistant, music and performing arts.

There are 30 academic departments at NCC: Accounting and Business, Africana Studies; Allied Health Sciences; Art; Biology; Chemistry; Communications; Criminal Justice; Economics Finance; Engineering; Physics & Technology; English; Foreign Languages; Health; Physical Education & Recreation; History; Political Science & Geography; Hospitality Business; Library; Legal Studies; Marketing, Retailing, Fashion Design & Interior Design; Mathematics; Computer Science & Information Technology; Mortuary Science; Music; Nursing; Office Technology; Philosophy; Physical Sciences; Psychology; Reading Basic Education; Sociology; Student Personnel Services; and Theatre & Dance.

The college also offers a number of special programs including NCC 101–The College Experience, an Interdisciplinary Studies program, and Learning Communities.

Learning Options

Also offered is a popular continuing education program attended by about 15,000 students each year. Continuing education courses at NCC are all non-credit, but the college offers about 300 courses a year.

The college also has an extensive online and distance education program that students can mix with their on-site traditional classes or take exclusively from the comfort of their own homes. This college offers several course delivery options, including prerecorded video and audio classes, live online classes, and even public television class options. Lab sessions are held on the campus and some exams are administered on the campus.

The Weekend College allows students to take Friday night, Saturday and Sunday classes to accommodate their work schedules. Nassau offers about 150 degree courses at its Weekend College.

NCC also has an Honors Program for incoming students who were ranked in the top 20 percent of their high school graduating classes. Some honors program students receive scholarships and transfer agreements with selected four-year colleges after they graduate from NCC. Students in the program are assigned to honors advisors and can reap the benefits of special activities that supplement class work.

The Study Abroad program is among the more unique programs available at the community college level. Because NCC is a member of the College Consortium for International Studies and the State University of New York system, students can spend semesters and entire school years studying abroad. NCC students have studied in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, and Russia.

For students new to this country or with limited English, there are two academic programs geared toward those needs. The NCC English as a Second Language program offers non-credit and for-credit college-level courses for students who have been admitted to the college. Enrollment in the ESL program requires a placement test. The other program, Language Immersion at NCC, provides full-time, 15-week intensive English language study before a student is admitted to the college.

For many community college students, the ability to transfer credits to four-year colleges is an important consideration. Graduates of Nassau Community College have eventually enrolled in many colleges in the SUNY system and the City University of New York system, along with colleges and universities including Harvard, Duke, Cornell, New York University, Fordham University, and George Washington University. NCC has an extensive list of articulation agreements with four-year institutions, and the school’s Transfer Services Office provides information sessions, transfer counselors, and an Annual Transfer Day program.

Most Popular Fields of Study

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Admissions

Nassau provides prospective students with two different enrollment options — the transfer program and the career program. Students who enroll in NCC’s career programs can earn an associate in applied science degree. Students in the transfer program earn associate in arts or associate in science degrees, which generally are more beneficial for those planning to transfer to a four-year institution after graduation.

Prospective students can apply to take daytime courses, evening courses, weekend college courses, and online courses, and Nassau Community College provides the option of full-time and part-time enrollment.

Students can also apply for joint admission, which allows them to attend this school and one of five SUNY colleges that participate in the joint program: Adelphi University, C.W. Post College, SUNY Albany, Dowling College, SUNY Old Westbury and SUNY Stony Brook. In addition, Hofstra University offers qualifying students the option of applying for the “2 + 2” Joint Admissions Program, in which students declare their intentions to enter Hofstra once they graduate from NCC, with their degree fully transferable.

Applicants must take a placement test before registering for courses. Applicants who have taken the SAT or ACT tests can submit their scores to be exempt from testing requirements. Applicants who have completed an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s degree are also exempt from placement testing.

NCC applicants deficient in specific areas of reading, English, or math skills will be required to register for remedial course work in their first semester. And students whose first language is not English will be tested by the English as a Second Language Program and might be required to take ESL courses before enrolling in regular academic courses.

Financial Aid

Student aid is awarded to eligible students in the form of federal grants and loans as well as institutional grants and loans. All students who are applying for financial aid must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly known as the FAFSA.

Eligible students may qualify for federal Pell Grants, federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Federal Work Study funding, direct Stafford loans, federal Perkins loans, nursing student loans for second-year students, and New York State Tuition Assistance Program grants for both full-time and part-time students.

NCC students are also encouraged to apply for scholarships available through the college, including a $5,000 Barnes and Noble Scholarship, the full-tuition David Hochhauser Memorial Scholarship, the $1,000 Florence Lane Memorial Scholarship, the $1,000 Christopher Racaniello 9/11 Memorial Scholarship, and others.

Student Financial Aid Details

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Students

This may be a commuters’ college, but thanks to its size and location it has an active and vibrant student life with plenty of clubs, organizations, services and school spirit surrounding its athletics teams.

NCC’s diverse student population with more than 110 academic, cultural, religious, political and athletic clubs and organizations. Clubs include Amnesty International, a Korean Club, PRIDE (NCC’s lesbian gay, bisexual, and transgender club), a Fashion Club, Jewish Student Organization, an honors club, even the All Ears Club, whose members are Disney fans. The well-known student-run radio station, WHPC, is the “Voice of Nassau Community College” and can be heard in the greater Nassau County region.

At the Student Activities Office, students can obtain information about services including bus schedules, campus maps, club information, and tickets to programs, theater productions, concerts, and trips. There is an annual Multicultural Fair, evening dances, and fundraisers sponsored by the activities office. For students with children, there is a paid on-campus day care center called The Children’s Greenhouse, which has been in operation since 1979.

Facilities

Facilities on the 225-acre campus cater to student life by giving commuting students places to gather, eat, relax, meet and play. The College Union building is home to the popular Game Room, where students can relax or engage in table tennis, pool, foosball, chess, checkers, and scrabble games. There are vending machines as well.

Three tournaments are scheduled each year for chess, table tennis, and pool players, and winners recieve gift cards and get a chance to compete in the regional Association of College Unions’ International Intercollegiate tournament at the New Jersey Institute Of Technology.

Nassau is also a digital campus, with wireless hot spots located in the campus library, the food court, and most classroom buildings. There also are two large computer labs on campus, the Information Commons in the library and the lab in Building G, both equipped with fully networked personal computers and applications including word processing, spreadsheets, and multimedia.

Dining Services

There are numerous places to eat on this sprawling campus, and students can use meal cards or cash to dine. The Top Flight Food Court is a busy place with popular food chains including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Nathans. At the Treat Street and Treat Street Too convenience stores, you can get coffee, soft drinks, sandwiches and salads. In addition, because of the campus location and easy access via bus into Garden City, students often head off campus to enjoy the cafes and restaurants within a five-mile radius of NCC.

This school also has a campus theater with a main stage theater that seats 199 and a little theater that seats 99. There is also a campus bookstore.

Student Enrollment Demographics

Athletics

The athletics program provides a wide variety for its students, including more than a dozen intercollegiate teams that compete as part of the Region XV Conference of the national Junior College Athletic Association. Teams include baseball, football, men’s and women’s basketball, golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, women’s volleyball, track and field and wrestling. If you’re interested in equestrian competition, you can join the NCC equestrian team. The college also has its own kickline and cheerleading squads.

Athletic facilities at this school have hosted not only games and tournaments, but national and international events including the U.S. National Volleyball Championships and the International Games for the Disabled. Facilities include the 192,000-square-foot George B. Costigan Physical Education Complex, with an 1,800-seat gymnasium, a four-lane track, three basketball courts, and weight room. The complex also houses facilities for basketball, boxing, cheerleading, dance, gymnastics, fencing, and handball.

The NCC Fieldhouse, which seats 400 spectators, provides an eight-lane lap pool and a 13-foot-deep diving pool. And the outdoor Mitchel Park Athletic Complex is a track and field stadium with 6,000 seats, a nine-lane, 400-meter track and a regulation turf field for football, soccer and lacrosse. The college’s softball complex includes four lighted grass fields, a training room and a meeting room.

Nassau Community College