The Pension Protection Act of 2006 offers senior taxpayers who are at least 70 ½ years of age an opportunity to make charitable donations directly from their IRA accounts.  This allows the donations to count toward satisfying IRA mandatory withdrawal amounts.

This temporary provision, which initially expired on Dec. 31, 2007, was recently extended to include all gifts made from Jan. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2009. You are allowed to donate up to $100,000 per calendar year from your IRA. The distribution must be made to a "qualified charity," and the source can be either a Roth IRA or a traditional IRA. The Lord Fairfax Community College Educational Foundation Inc. meets the criteria of a "qualified charity" under the law.

If you name the Foundation as a beneficiary of a portion of your retirement funds, you will not pay income tax on the distributions, and you will also avoid a penalty on early withdrawals. Additionally, after age 59 ½, there is no penalty for early withdrawals, provided certain conditions are met. If you wish to make this type of gift to the Foundation, please contact your financial adviser.

If 50 Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC) graduates contribute just $20 to the LFCC Educational Foundation Inc., the College could:

• Hold bird-watching walks and field trips that would be open to LFCC students and the public
• Purchase a chair mount for a dental hygiene mannequin for the Dental Hygiene Program
• Fund the expenses for students to visit the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

LFCC typically graduates more than 560 students per year. Imagine the impact that could be made if every LFCC graduate contributes just $20 to the Foundation! Please make a tax-deductible contribution of at least $20 to the Foundation by Dec. 31, 2008. Your investment will impact the community and inspire students by providing them with opportunities and resources to ensure their success.

Find out more about the College's funding needs. For your convenience, contribution forms are available online. Thank you!

Beginning Oct. 20, 2008, students will be able to earn 16 weeks of credit in just eight weeks!

This is one of several alternative scheduling options that the College will begin offering in upcoming semesters to meet the community's changing educational needs. 

Following are some of the classes in which students can enroll now:

• College Composition I
• College Success Skills
• Desktop Publishing
• Developmental Psychology
• History of World Civilization I
• Introduction to Computer Applications and Concepts
• Preparing for College Writing I

Please note that the high quality of instruction and expectations of students (including attendance, hours in class and course work) are the same for all sessions offered by LFCC.

Information about the eight-week session is available on LFCC's Web site or by contacting the Student Success Office at 540-351-1507 (Fauquier Campus) or the Counseling and Advising Office at 540-868-7110 (Middletown Campus).

This fall, on the first day of classes, Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC) faculty and students filled the halls and the classrooms of the new Science and Health Professions Building. LFCC is excited about training students enrolled in its science and health professions programs in a facility with plenty of laboratory space for hands-on learning and state-of-the-art classrooms for enhanced technical instruction.

You are invited to join LFCC as it celebrates the addition of this new facility to the Middletown Campus, located at 173 Skirmisher Lane in Middletown. The grand opening of the LFCC Science and Health Professions Building will be held on Friday, Nov. 7, 2008, from 4 to 6 p.m. Sponsored by Lawrence J. Finkel, M.D., P.C.; Hunt Country Home Health Inc.; Hunt Country Nursing Services Inc.; and United Bank, the event is free and open to the public.

In addition to the sponsors of the grand opening celebration, LFCC is grateful for the generous support of Patricia Bradshaw and The Titmus Foundation Inc. for their contributions to the Science and Health Professions Building Fund.

LFCC alumni, we want to hear from you! Whether you graduated from LFCC 20 years ago or two years ago, we need your input. Please take a few minutes to complete an alumni survey. The results will give us insight into how we can better serve and communicate with you. Thank you!