Employment is surging for community college graduates while four-year graduates wait tables — and wait to start their professional careers.
Employers want universities to collaborate on job training, but it’s a tough sell.
‘Middle’ skills lead to middle-class jobs
September 19, 2012 by
Career technical education is “the missing middle ground in American education and workforce preparation,” concludes a new report. There are 29 million jobs paying middle-class wages — $35,000 to $75,000 a year — that are open to workers with employer-based training, industry or college certifications, apprenticeships and associate degrees.
Students need to know there’s a third path to success that gets them much farther than a high school diploma and doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree, writes a community college president.
Getting to Graduation: How — and how many?
September 4, 2012 by
Getting to Graduation will require state and federal policies that encourage new and established higher ed providers “to compete with one another on the value they deliver to their students,” argues a new book on the completion agenda in higher education. And don’t forget apprenticeships, vocational certificates and associate degrees that qualify graduates for “middle-skill” jobs.
Study: 2-year for-profit students earn more
August 29, 2012 by
Associate degree students at for-profit colleges raise their earnings as much as community college students — or more — concludes a new study. Students who choose the more costly for-profit option are nearly twice as likely to earn a degree as community college students, even though the for-profit students are more likely to be poor, black, single parents and GED holders.
Amazon offers college aid to warehouse workers
July 25, 2012 by
Amazon will give warehouse workers up to $2,000 in annual scholarships to pursue associate degrees in high-wage, high-demand careers, such as aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design, machine tool technologies, medical lab technologies and nursing.
What for-profit colleges do right
June 18, 2012 by
Two-year for-profit colleges do a good job graduating disadvantaged students with vocational certificates and associate degrees.
Community colleges are going online to provide job training.
A bachelor’s isn’t always better
January 17, 2012 by
Texas needs skilled workers with two-year technical degrees, say educators and employers. A bachelor’s isn’t always better.
Also on Community College Spotlight: From jail to a job.
Fewer health jobs in sick economy
June 23, 2011 by
Health-care degrees, sold as the ticket to a high-paying, high-demand job, are “a passport to the unemployment line” in some parts of the country.
Also on Community College Spotlight: “Reverse-transfer” programs are helping students earn associate degrees en route to a bachelor’s, while improving community college graduation rates.
Soldier earns valedictorian honors
May 30, 2011 by
After working 12 hours a day as a hazardous materials specialist at Bagram air base in Afghanistan, Army Staff Sgt. Dysha Huggins-Hodge studied in the computer lab, determined to complete an associate degree at Anne Arundel Community College on schedule — and to earn A’s. Now stationed in Maryland, the 4.0 student gave the valedictorian speech at her graduation last week.
Also on Community College Spotlight: Women earned 62 percent of associate degrees and 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees in 2008-09.
You may already be a graduate
March 29, 2011 by
Over the last five years, 1,000 San Jose community college students completed requirements for certificates and associate degrees, but never claimed the credential, an audit has found. Many thought they’d earn a bachelor’s degree but didn’t. Now the district is trying to find the students to retroactively award the credentials they’ve earned.
Also on Community College Spotlight: More Long Beach, California students are going to college — and staying in college — thanks to a partnership between the K-12 district, the local community college and Cal State Long Beach.
Recent Comments