subject: Going Back To School [print this page] With the economy down and people needing jobs, it has become clear that job applicants with a college degree are receiving higher preference over those applicants who only received a high school education. More people are going back to school school to get a college degree, or even going back to get a graduate or post-graduate degree.
What people are finding, however, is that four years is a long time, and during that time they still have to find work to support their family. As an alternative, many are going to a trade school and receiving certificates, or getting a two-year degree in their area of interest.
Trade schools are growing in popularity because they are considerably cheaper and they take less time to complete. These important advantages allow students to get in and get out so they can enter (or re-enter) the workforce to make money to support themselves and their families.
In the past, trade schools were limited to teaching blue-collar professions to students, the only programs available were mechanics, welding, truck driving, landscaping, culinary arts, and the like; but now they have expanded to offering health-care training, computer programing, business, and information technology.
The expanded scope of course work has attracted more people to trade schools, and are allowing more people to receive degrees and certificates in more fields of study.
One of the main advantages to a trade school is that the students are learning what they need to learn to perform well in their profession, and are not taking general education classes like history, science, and humanities, which will not be applied in all professions.
This focused course load allows students to not waste any time learning information that will not help them in the workplace. Instead, students are emerged in a learning environment that will teach them the principles and methods that are necessary to excel the the profession of their choice.
The focus of the offered classes is especially appealing to those individuals who may have worked for years in their profession without a degree, but a lay-off has forced them to get a degree to compete with the younger college graduates with less work experience.
Individuals in this type of situation are not interested in busy-work and learning about the American Civil War, when they came to college to get a degree in business technology. Instead, they are interested in taking only the necessary classes that are actually relevant to their profession.
Trade school offers them this type of focused environment, and because of that, students are able to complete their education in two years or less, instead a four-year degree, two of which are busy work.
The time factor is often one of the most important factors for people going back to school. Individuals who came from the work force and back to school have financial responsibilities that still need to be met whether they have a full-time job or not.
Getting in and out as quickly as possible is important, because the faster one can do that, the faster they can get back out there and get a full time job and start making decent money to support themselves and their family.
Another important fact is the economical nature of trade school. The classes are concentrated and the programs only last two years or less, meaning the teachers do not have to work are long, so they don't have to be paid as much as university professors do.
The lessened cost of paying staff, and the fact that the campus does not have to pay the expenses of providing housing for students allows the trade schools to charge the students less for the education they are receiving.
People who have just been laid-off know the importance of saving money and how every dollar spent needs to be stretched as far as it can go. This type of education allows money and time to be saved, and allows student to receive their education and start making money more quickly.
