"OCC Has Set Me Up For The Future Very Well"

The rapidly rising cost of tuition at some colleges and the suffocating debt which accompanies it is one of the hot topics in our country. It's a topic Laura Frateschi hasn't had to concern herself with thanks to the OCC Advantage program. "At a young age I didn't have a huge understanding of the concept of money. I watched all of my friends go away to four-year colleges and I was a little bit jealous. I quickly found out after my first semester that I made a great decision and it's life-changing for me."

Frateschi is a 2022 graduate of East Syracuse Minoa (ESM) High School. ESM is one of five school districts affiliated with OCC Advantage, a college and career readiness program which provides financial assistance to eligible students. "My junior year of high school I got really serious about it and realized it would be the perfect program. I would get my associate degree and not have any debt."

Her father, Peter Frateschi, is an OCC Alumnus and a Nurse Practitioner at Crouse Hospital. She saw the way he helped people and realized she also wanted to go into the medical field. When she took Anatomy & Physiology in high school, she fell in love with learning about the body. She decided she wanted to become an X-ray Technician and help people figure out what was causing them pain.

Her chosen career path made OCC's Health Sciences degree program the perfect starting point. "It connects directly with Upstate. I didn't have any worries about if I was meeting all of the requirements or if everything would transfer."

Next month Frateschi will complete her degree, and in the fall she'll be in SUNY Upstate Medical University's Medical Imaging Science/Radiography program which only accepts a small number of students each year. "My time here was really great. OCC has set me up for the future very well."