![]() The majority of full-time students at technical schools in Tennessee are adults who aren’t straight from high school. Still, technical college can be a hard sell for high school seniors who equate college with a bachelor’s degree. “That’s really what technical colleges do.” “We know that the way adults learn is in short bursts of theory, and then application immediately,” he said. Liberal arts colleges could take a note from the way technical schools deliver information, said Joshua Wyner, executive director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute. (That’s higher than the national average for certificate programs in 2012, about half of those students finished within three years.) Of those who graduated, 82% found jobs immediately. “If we double the capacity, we’ll still not graduate enough students to meet the needs of industry in this area.” All of them last 20 months or less and lead to different wages.Įmployers are hungry for workers, according to college President Nathan Garrett. Other trade programs there include cosmetology, nursing and early childhood education. The school’s accreditation hangs on how many students get positions in their fields after graduating. But I didn’t choose that, because when COVID happened, there weren’t as many cars on the road, but the number of trucks on the road stayed the same.”Ī group of students gathers around a motor at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Nashville, measuring its parts. “I looked up jobs that were a necessity and jobs that I could do, and diesel was the one that I chose,” Ellis said. He’s already working a few days a week at trucking company Western Express. “It makes it easier to have an over-standing, rather than just a basic understanding of everything that we need to know,” Ellis said.Įllis will graduate in April with his certificate in diesel and heavy equipment. He said he likes learning from people who’ve been in the field. In the next room, which is actually a garage, 21-year-old Jonathan Ellis is itching to get back under the truck cab where he’s replacing the brakes. My grandfather owns an old hot rod lot in Hendersonville, and I just kind of picked up some things along the years, and now I’m here,” Garton said. Garton was thinking about becoming a cardiovascular surgeon, but the pandemic made her reconsider. State programs - Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect - cover tuition costs for most residents who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. But like the majority of the students at Tennessee’s technical colleges, Garton doesn’t pay anything. This particular diesel program lasts 20 months, and tuition is $6,680. The median pay for a diesel technician was $48,690 as of May 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Making as much money as possible,” said Garton, who lives in Hendersonville, about 30 minutes down the road from Nashville. In a tight labor market, some students want to get in and out of higher education as quickly as possible, which makes trade programs attractive. There are a few hot areas of study, including mechanic courses and precision production programs, like metalworking, which both saw continued jumps in enrollment this fall. The programs are not focused on history or calculus, but rather on training students for specific jobs. But skilled trade programs saw growth in the spring, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Across the country, college enrollment dropped significantly during the pandemic, and that decline has, for the most part, continued. The promise of that good career is why these students are here. “I would never have gone anywhere without having a good career,” Dillard said. The bear stories from Alaska are awesome, another adds. I was in Alaska, working there,” Dillard said.ĭon’t forget about Antarctica, one student reminds him. “I have been around the world mechanicing. “We’re a month in, and we’re already tearing apart engines, so we’re learning pretty quick,” said 18-year-old Layah Garton.Īll these students have a clear reverence for their instructor, Pat Dillard, who spent about 40 years working in the diesel industry. They’re just beginning the school’s diesel mechanics program. At the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Nashville, a group of students is standing around a bright red motor, measuring its parts down to the ten-thousandth of an inch.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |