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Hospitality Programs Offered at Mountwest Community & Technical College

Mountwest Community & Technical College appears in our ranking of the 50 Most Affordable Small Colleges for Hospitality Administration and Management.

Students with an interest in hospitality management can choose from three programs offered by Mountwest Community & Technical College. Students earn an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Hospitality Management and can choose a concentration in hotel and lodging management. Designed for those who want to run boutique hotels and corporate motels, it features four semesters of classes. Those classes include Travel, Tourism and Hospitality, Culinary Sanitation and Safety, Records Management, Culinary Selection and Procurement, and Cost Control and Revenue Management. They will also take Introduction to Vineyards and Breweries.

One of the biggest components of the program is a hospitality management internship. Students can do an apprenticeship in place of an internship. Mountwest Community & Technical College can help students find positions in local hotels and motels but also allows students to work in other parts of West Virginia. Some students do their internships in other states too. Their internships must include some direct contact with hotel guests and front desk work too.

An AAS in Culinary Arts program is similar but designed for those who want to work in restaurants and similar organizations. The program includes an internship or apprenticeship that students do in the final semester. Some of the courses that majors take include Fabrication and Knife Skills, Managing Culinary Operations, Culinary Nutrition and Introduction to Vineyards and Breweries. Students also take Menu Planning and courses on cooking such as Introduction to Bread and Dough and Soups, Stocks and Sauces. There are also practicum requirements that ask students to work in a lab setting.

Also available is a culinary arts certificate program that includes hospitality management courses. This program lets students who have some professional experience get the education that they need to compete in the current job market. It features two lab practicums and 12 courses but does not include an internship or apprenticeship. Majors will take Fundamentals of Computers and both math and written communications courses. They’ll also take a combination of courses from the two degree programs, including A La Carte Dining Room Service, Mise en Place, Garde Manager, Cost Control and Revenue Management and Sanitation and Safety.

About Mountwest Community & Technical College

Mountwest Community & Technical College is a community college also called MCTC. Founded in the 1970s as Marshall Community College, it opened for classes in 1975. Students could originally major in several fields and earn their degrees in two years. The college changed its name to Marshall Community and Technical College in 1991 to bring awareness to the technical programs added to its curriculum. Though initially affiliated with Marshall University, it ended that partnership in 2003 and became an independent public community college.

MCTC is now one of the 10 campuses in the West Virginia Community and Technical College System. This system makes it easy for students to transfer to a large university when they finish an associate’s degree. Students can also take one to two years of classes before they transfer to another campus. During its early years, MCTC held classes in spaces leased from Marshall University. It ended that arrangement in 2012 after acquiring office space from a chemical company based out of Ashland. Located in Huntington, West Virginia, MCTC offers classes on that campus as well as online, which helped its overall enrollment climb.

Mountwest Community & Technical College Accreditation Details

To make sure that it provides the best opportunities for its students, MCTC sought regional accreditation and obtained it from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Incoming and returning students can use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to get a financial aid package due to this accreditation. It also gives students the option to transfer their credits to a four-year degree program. Other accreditation held by MCTC includes that from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Programs (CAAHP), American Bar Association (ABA) and Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education Programs (CAPHEP) among others.

Mountwest Community & Technical College Application Requirements

MCTC offers a streamlined process that lets students apply in only three steps. They must start with the application. The college has a PDF version of the application that students can download to their computers and send it back through the mail. Most students opt for the online version of the application. It requires that students create accounts and use their information to apply for admissions.

To help students with the application process, the college has peer coaches available. Those coaches can help students as they complete the application and also talk with them about the different degree programs. All students must provide official transcripts when they apply. MCTC accepts both high school and college transcripts as well as home school records. It will also accept GED scores and transcripts. MCTC also requires that students submit the FAFSA and apply for financial aid. Those who do not qualify for aid and those who do not use the FAFSA need to make payment arrangements with the college before the semester starts.

Tuition and Financial Aid

MCTC charges all students the same tuition rate of $174.25 per credit hour if they are residents of West Virginia. They pay different fees based on their programs though. Hospitality management majors pay $280 in fees each semester for a total of $2,371 due. Students who qualify for the metro discount are those who live in surrounding areas. They pay $296.50 per credit hour and $3,838 each semester. Students who live in one of five Ohio counties or one of five Kentucky counties will qualify for this discount. All other non-residents pay $433 per credit hour or $5,476 each semester.

The deadline for students to get financial aid is at the end of June each year. Students must make sure that the college receives a completed FAFSA and any other required information to get that aid. Financial aid can include a Pell grant, service grant, work-study and loans from the federal government. West Virginia residents can also get state aid such as the WV Higher Education Grant, WV Invests Grant or PROMISE Scholarships. All students receive loan letters before the semester begins to show them all of their financial aid. Mountwest Community & Technical College allows students in its hospitality programs to use both federal and state financial aid.