It requires that Harrah's Chester Casino & Racetrack in Chester turn over a slice of its table-games revenue to fund the community college sponsorship.
Starting in January, students from Chester City, Chester Township, and Upland Borough taking a full course load of 12 credits a semester will pay $1,164 in tuition. If the district were not a sponsor, they would pay $2,328.
"It's going to pay a huge dividend, year after year, because there are so many people who couldn't afford college" and now can, Chester Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr. said at Monday's ceremony at the college's Marple Township campus. "This is a grand day for us."
Delaware County Community College enrolls about 28,000 students, including 7,000 who take courses in neighboring Chester County. Of the students at the Marple campus, about 670 live in the Chester Upland district. About 350 are taking courses that could lead to a degree.
The college's president, Jerry Parker, said that usually about 15 percent of graduating seniors in a sponsoring district enroll at the college. Only about 5 percent of Chester Upland graduates go there, he said, a figure he hopes will rise.
"There's definitely room for improvement, and affordability is certainly a big factor for our students," he said.
John Linder, a Chester City Council member and a sociology professor at the college, said Monday that "one of the biggest problems with students dropping out is economics. It takes too long to get a degree one or two courses at a time." Now, with the price cut in half, he said, "I've already had students talking about taking more courses."
That's certainly the case with Knidia Kea, 30, a Chester resident who started at the college in August. She is taking psychology courses but aiming at a law degree. "This is a dream come true for me," she said. "My tuition bill was pretty heavy. Now I can take more courses and earn credits more quickly."
