Is vocational school a good idea?

arabrab
Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:06:10 +0000

I participate in a grants program that funds vocational programs (programs, not individual students). I’ve been rather shocked at some of them. Some have strong linkages with apprenticeship programs with various trades unions (electricians, plumbers), others might have good linkages with car dealers (auto mechanics), or landscape firms/golf course (irrigation management). The schools with these strong connections seem to get their students placed into coop positions and their graduates placed into decently paying jobs.

Unfortunately, there are a number of others – the majority of the private vocational schools as well as a good chunk of the public vocational programs that have programs that are very poorly matched with employer hiring interests, or that train students for very low-paying jobs (virtually all of the beauty colleges). It just pains me to see a teenage single mom in a vocational course for a cosmetology license that is likely to result, at best, in a $10-12 an hour job with no benefits and limited access to full-time work, or culinary positions that barely pay minimum wage. Seeing all of the kids paying big bucks to the private technical colleges to learn computer repair and maintenance when there are already many, many graduates in these fields out there without jobs is also perturbing.

Vocational school can be a great thing, if it is the right program at the right price. But is is definitely a “buyer beware” situation. Do work on your own to validate the job placement, and talk to likely employers ahead of time about whether they have recently hired people from this specific program, and ask what they think of it.