With the cost of college — and student loans — continuing to rise, you may be considering alternatives. Average tuition, room and board for a private four-year college was $50,770 for the 2020-21 school year, according to the College Board, and $22,180 for public in-state four-year colleges. And that’s just for one of the four years before graduation. Depending on your major — and the economy in your area — it could be years before your earnings can make that expensive degree worthwhile.
Meanwhile, some employers can’t find enough workers to fill jobs and are paying students to enroll in career and technical education programs (CTE). Within a few months or a year or two, you could complete a certificate program, earn an associate’s degree or start an apprenticeship program that can lead directly to a job. Tuition is much lower than it is for four-year colleges, and in many cases is covered in full or part by the prospective employers or state or local programs.
“All of our programs have great job prospects,” said Shawn Strong, president of State Technical College of Missouri, which is near the top of many national rankings of technical colleges and has a 99% job placement rate. “We get the most phone calls from employers for heavy equipment operators, design drafters, precision machining, diesel technicians, electricians, manufacturing (automation and controls) technicians and biomedical engineering technicians.”
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Recent graduates were hired for a $54,000 job as a design drafter in St. Louis, a $50,000 job as a biomedical engineering technician in Columbia, Missouri, and manufacturing technicians (automation and controls grads) are being hired across the state of Missouri with a number of manufacturers at salaries that are $23 to $25 per hour or more, Strong said. The majority of the heavy equipment operators who complete a one-year certificate program are starting at $18 to $25 per hour.
Students who receive CTE training in health-related fields are also in high demand. “Right now, there are all kinds of jobs in the health care professions, from nursing to technicians – phlebotomy technicians, physical therapy, radiology technicians,” said Alisha Hyslop, senior director of public policy for the Association for Career and Technical Education. “There are also a lot of jobs available in the skilled trades,” such as welding, she said. The job markets for other fields can vary a lot by location. “Look at the local and regional labor market information, because the labor markets look a lot different from one part of the country to another,” she recommended. “IT (information technology) may have more jobs in some areas. Some areas may not need as many welders, but in other places there may be hundreds of job opportunities.”
