Anna Gaspar, like many other college students, is getting ready to get a jump start on her career. In a little more than a week, she'll start classes at Gateway Community College in its new downtown location.
“I live in New Haven, so it's closer to where I live,” said Gaspar, who is a Gateway Community College student.
It's also closer to area restaurants and businesses since it now sits downtown at the corner of George and Church Streets instead of on Long Wharf. The businesses are happy because it means an extra 10,000 people in the area. The students are happy because it puts them in the middle of the action.
“Students have access to downtown, to work/employment situation, to state-of-the-art labs, to people, just the tangible things they couldn't touch at the Long Wharf campus, so this is really exciting for them,” said GCC President Dr. Dorsey Kendrick.
In order for the students to get to class and even get around downtown, the city is offering free bus passes for about a month.
“If a Gateway student shows their ID, we will issue them a 31-day CT Transit bus pass that the city is going to pay for. What that will do is encourage students and folks working at Gateway to take the bus downtown,” said New Haven Mayor John DeStefano.
That's quite a savings for new students, who already have a long to-do list before school starts September 4th.
Local
“There's so much that you have to already get, so the bus is just another hassle, so this is a good start. It's really convenient, really convenient,” said Liz Francois, a GCC student.
