Women need a push to choose STEM majors
Recruiting community college women into STEM majors isn’t rocket science, according to Donna Milgram, who’s studied the issue at eight California community colleges. Personal encouragement from instructors or counselors is needed to get women to consider predominantly male science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs, Milgram, executive director of the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS), [...]
Colleges compete for vets — and benefits
Uncle Sam wants veterans to sign up for college! And colleges and universities are vying to create “veteran friendly” programs, classes, and centers to attract the ex-G.I.’s—and the billions of U.S. dollars provided by the post-9/11 G.I. Bill. Onondaga Community College, in Syracuse, N.Y., uses veterans to help new G.I. Bill enrollees. “I’ve seen almost instant [...]
Chicago will subsidize jobs for City Colleges grads
Chicago will give $2 million to companies that hire City Colleges graduates, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. “You hire one of our community college kids, we’ll pay their stipend for the first four weeks of work,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a commencement speech for the system’s graduates. “I want the rest of the country and [...]
After college, what will you earn?
If college is an investment, students should have some idea what they’ll earn with a degree in nursing or marketing or whatever from College X vs. College Y, writes Daniel de Vise in College, Inc. Soon more information will be available about post-college employment. Especially as college continues to get more expensive, students rightfully want to [...]
Colleges train natural gas drillers
Job seekers lined up at a natural gas job fair at Broome Community College in Binghamton, New York, even though New York hasn’t yet lifted its ban on hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for natural gas. Even ahead of the 3 p.m. start at Broome Community College, job seekers and exhibitors gathered outside the doors. Business [...]
Training for energy jobs must match needs
The enthusiasm for “green jobs” will lead to disappointment unless community colleges align alternative energy programs with workforce needs in their area, writes Ellie Ashford on Community College Times. Research the local market and talk to alternative energy employers before creating a new program, advises Todd Cohen of the American Association of Community College’s SEED [...]
Mechatronics: It’s not your dad’s shop class
It’s not your father’s shop class at high schools in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley. Students now take an Engineering Explorations class that eventually could prepare them to study mechatronics engineering at Virginia Western Community College, reports the Roanoke Times. There’s demand for trained workers who understand electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and information technology, says Dan Horine, [...]
To reclaim the dream, look off-campus
Community colleges aren’t living up to their promise, writes Mark Bauerlein, an Emory English professor and author of The Dumbest Generation, on Minding the Campus. The solution lies in alliances with local employers, he argues. The American Association of Community Colleges’ new report, Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future, details the [...]
Tech colleges to link funding, job placement
Job training is job one in the Texas State Technical College System, which is working on a “returned-value” model that would link all college funding to graduates’ employment and earnings, reports the Texas Tribune. . . . administrators at TSTC, a network of public two-year institutions that provide technical training, . . . are working [...]
When low tuition isn’t a bargain
Low tuition isn’t always a bargain for community college students, argues Nate Johnson in an Inside Higher Ed commentary that defends Santa Monica College‘s abandoned two-tier pricing plan. If low-cost community colleges don’t have the revenue to offer enough classes, students will turn to high-cost for-profit colleges, which expand quickly to meet demand. From 2001-2 [...]
