Thinking and Linking by Joanne Jacobs
Texans who earn a technical certificate or associate degree often earn more than four-year graduates in their first year in the workforce, concludes a new study. Some workers with certificates in health-care fields start at more than $70,000 – $30,000 more than the median for graduates with bachelor’s degrees.
Associate degree graduates in technical fields earn more than the average four-year graduate in three states — and they paid a lot less for their education.
The top-paying jobs requiring an associate degree are air traffic controller (median pay of $108,040), construction manager ($83,860) and radiation therapist ($74,980). Jobs requiring a two-year degree are growing rapidly, lead by health care jobs.
If the U.S. is to lead the world in college graduates — President Obama’s goal — it must focus on two-year credentials, concludes a new report. The U.S. is second in the world to Norway in adults with a bachelor’s degree (35 percent), but far fewer U.S. adults have earned an associate degree (10 percent).
Assembling credits from a variety of online courses, one man earned an associate degree from an accredited college for a total cost of $3,000. Courses ranged from art appreciation, music appreciation, macroeconomics and accounting to a series of Federal Emergency Management Agency courses, including Livestock in Disasters. Just a wee bit incoherent?
Also on Community College Spotlight: Smoothing the rocky road to higher education.
Unemployed college graduates are heading to community colleges for associate degrees in nursing, medical technology, information technology and other high-demand fields.
In California, a record number of recent four-year graduates are working in food service, retail and clerical jobs.
New associate-degree graduates in Tennessee average higher earnings than four-year graduates. Health care, construction and technology are top-earning fields for two-year graduates.
Also on Community College Spotlight: Community colleges will get $500 million in federal grants to fund job training.
Chicago will open five new six-year high schools that will let students complete “grade 14″ with an associate degree and high-tech job skills. IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, Motorola Solutions and Verizon will develop curricula, mentor students, provide summer internships and guarantee a “first-in-line” job interview after graduation.
Also on Community College Spotlight: Dual enrollment classes let a wide range of students — not just high achievers — earn college and high school credits at the same time. Does it raise the odds of college success?
“Degree creep” – requiring a bachelor’s instead of an associate degree — could make it harder to qualify as a nurse, respiratory therapist, nuclear medicine technician, dental hygienist or dietician.
Where will the jobs (and middle-class wages) will be in the next few years for people without four-year college degrees? Retiring baby boomers will open up manufacturing jobs for male high school graduates. Women will need a certificate or associate degree — preferably in a health-care field — to have a shot at earning at least $35,000 a year.
Also on Community College Spotlight: To provide realistic training in restaurant work, a college culinary arts program has opened its own bistro.
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