Here is a link to an article about the advantages for someone interested in getting a four year degree or starting their college career at a community college for two years and then transferring. Read More
This is an article that points out some areas where technical training can provide young people with careers that pay as well those requiring college. Many welling programs can be taken in low cost or free community colleges with work/study or apprenticeships where you earn while you learn. Read more.
If you are a veteran or currently in the guard or reserve, the On-The-Job Training (OJT) Program offers you an alternative way to use your VA (GI Bill) education and training benefits. These GI Bill benefits make apprenticeships an even more attractive way to train for a high paying job. Read More
This article discusses what US News and World Report feels are the 20 fastest growing jobs, by industry, in which employment should grow by 30 percent or more. Read More
A short article on how early planning beginning in high school can make it much more likely a student will be successful in college. Tips for what to do to prepare in each year of high school as well as tips on how to improve your scholarship resume. Test scores suggest a high percentage of high school students are not ready for college. Only a quarter of the 1.8 million graduates who took the ACT college entrance exam in 2013 met readiness benchmarks in all four core subjects – English, math, science and reading. That figure dropped from 31 percent in 2012, according to annual reports by ACT Inc. Students who hit the mark on the test have a 75 percent chance of passing a first-year college course in that subject. Those who fall short are more likely to struggle in college and many will waste time and tuition dollars on remedial courses. Read the full...
The author is an industrial psychologist who has experience developing these kinds of skill tests used by private and public agencies to screen applicants for jobs requiring mechanical ability like skilled trade apprenticeships and some engineering professions. This book describes 18 typical tests a person applying for jobs in the skilled trades would likely take that measure a person’s mechanical aptitude and their spatial ability. The author explains all the questions and answers and gives test-taking tips using many diagrams and illustrations. This is a good book not just for someone applying for these kinds of jobs, but also for a person who is exploring this kind of career path to give them an idea of their true aptitude for this type of work.
Securing Oklahoma’s Economic Future By Bill Langdon The declining level of investment in our kid’s education and healthcare is having economic consequences for Oklahoma and threatening the economic future of our state. We no longer have a competitive, well trained and healthy workforce and are not attracting enough well paying jobs that can reverse the declining standard of living faced by the families in our state. Here are the statistics employers see when they consider locating in Oklahoma. We rank 32nd in the percentage of people in our state over 25 that have a high school education but only 42nd in terms of those who have a college degree or 30.8% compared with 34% for the nation as a whole. In addition, Oklahoma now ranks 47th in terms of the educational quality of its public schools as of 2017 and 46th in terms of overall medical health. These are...
This article describes a partnership between a German firm trying to solve its problem of finding qualified workers for its high tech manufacturing plant. Their answer was a partnership with the local high schools and a community college that offered students training beginning in their junior year of high school, the German apprenticeship model. For kids with an interest in this kind of technical training, apprenticeships are a way for them to get the training they need to secure a well paying job without the necessity of incurring a lot of debt obtaining a college degree. In fact the article points out most people earn increasing pay as they progress through an apprenticeship program. CHARLOTTE — As a high school junior, Hope Johnson thought she had things figured out. She’d been hit with wanderlust during an academic trip to Brazil, set her sights on London’s Richmond University and hoped to...
Among bachelor’s degree graduates from the Class of 2016, those from the STEM disciplines are expected to receive the highest starting salaries, according results of NACE’s Winter 2016 Salary Survey. The top three projected salaries are for engineering, computer sciences, and math and sciences graduates. Continue Reading