Grayson College (GC) Introduction and Academics

Introduction

As the name clearly implies, this school is located in Grayson County, in northeastern Texas (a little under 100 miles to the north of Dallas). The principal campus of Grayson County College is located in the city of Denison, though there are additional campus branches in the communities of Sherman, Bonham, and Van Alstyne, all of which are located nearby. The school was established in the 1960s following a successful bond election referendum in Grayson County proposing a community college system for the area’s school districts.

Information Summary

Ranks 104th in Texas and 2046th overall. See the entire top 2,000 colleges and universities list
Overall Score (about)	62.7
Total Cost On-Campus Attendance	$13,230
Admission Success rate	N/A
Student Ratio Students-to-Faculty	14 : 1
Retention (full-time / part-time)	62% / 39%
Enrollment Total (all students)	4,372

Academics

Pursuant to its condition as a community college, the college offers students the possibility to achieve academic degrees through the associate level. In particular, there are various programs on offer culminating in either an Associate of Science, Associate of Arts in Teaching, or Associate of Applied Science degree; at a lower level, several certificate programs are also available.

The school has developed strong programs that attract the highest number of students in the areas of mathematics, nursing and emergency medicine, therapy and counseling, and engineering technician.

For students looking to get the most out of their experience at GCC, there is the Honors College (a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council), and furthermore there are college transfer programs that can launch students into a four-year college track. In fact, GCC has a partnership with West Texas A&M University through which students may enroll in a handful of strictly online bachelor’s degree programs.

Most Popular Fields of Study

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Admissions

As the school is an area community college, it implements an open admissions policy whereby all qualified student applicants from the pertaining school districts are accepted. This open admissions policy is, of course, contingent on available space in classrooms, and certain high-demand programs may possibly have stricter admissions standards than the school as a whole.

The admissions process for GCC can be completed online or in paper form. Students will find that they may be awarded college credit upon admission for certain high school exams or classes taken. The most typical examples where college credit is awarded to incoming freshmen include: receiving high scores on Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams; for select military training programs; through a departmental exam at GCC; and through participating in and successfully completing one of the courses listed in the Dual Credit program that GCC maintains with area high schools.

Financial Aid

As a participating institution of higher education in the US Title IV financial assistance programs, GCC offers federally subsidized loan and grant opportunities for students. In all, students have access to loan, grant, scholarship, and work-study opportunities to help them pay their way through college.

At the federal level, grants include the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant and the Pell Grant, while at the state level the Texas Public Education Grant, the State Student Incentive Grant Program and the Academic Competitiveness Grant are offered.

The first and most important step in qualifying for loans and other kinds of financial aid as well is completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which is available online.

Student Financial Aid Details

Ranks 6821st for the average student loan amount.
Secrets to getting the best scholarships and financial aid in Texas.

Students

Student life at GCC is dominated by a variety of active clubs and organizations, with most students belonging to at least one. A sampling of the school’s clubs and organizations would include the Viking Voice (which is the student-run newspaper), the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society, the Student Government Association, the Criminal Justice Club, and the Grayson Nursing Students Association.

Student Enrollment Demographics

Athletics

The college is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), participating in Region 5 of the Western Junior College Athletic Conference. GCC has actually won three national championships and has developed a strong athletic reputation in the sports practiced on campus, namely: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and softball. The school’s mascot is the Viking (for women’s teams, they refer to the “Lady Vikings”).

Separately, the school operates its own 18-hole golf course, a holdover from the former Perrin Air Force Base, on which the West Campus portion of the main Denison campus is situated.

Grayson College