Is Vocational Education The Right Choice For You?

Since the economic slowdown began in 2008, vocational training has become incredibly popular throughout the U.S. with vocational colleges experiencing an incredible 20% annual increase in enrollment as a result. Vocational schools are clearly an excellent option for many people, but are they right for you? Arriving at this decision requires weighing the benefits and drawbacks of utilizing trade school programs as the vehicle to reach your eventual career goal.

This guide analyzes the advantages and drawbacks associated with trade colleges, and looks at whether or not vocational schooling is the most effective way to enter your desired profession.

The Benefits of Vocational Schools

There were several studies over the last few years on the successes of vocational school graduates in the labor force as compared with their traditionally-educated and trained colleagues. Their findings consistently agreed that vocationally-trained professional people not only earned more than their university-schooled colleagues right after graduating, but continued to at least equal them in both position and salary all through their careers. It should be noted that these conclusions were not relevant to each and every industry, but the general trend did show that vocational school graduates compared very well with their competition in the job market.

This section outlines what the author considers to be the most-important advantages that trade colleges hold over traditional colleges and universities.

Focus on Skills Rather than Academics

Those students who learn easier by working on things than by researching the idea behind them are the ones who usually shine in trade school programs. In vocational training courses, you spend your time actually getting hands-on practice applying the skills that will ultimately be required in your profession ? not reading about how to do things in a textbook.

Start Your Career Sooner

While four-year college students are still in classes completing their degrees, two-year vocational school graduates are already fully immersed in their professions and earning a good paycheck.

Help with Finding a Job

As soon as their students graduate, almost all vocational colleges make a serious effort to quickly put them in jobs. In a 2006 research project, the U.S. Department of Education determined that trade schools? claims about their success at putting graduates in jobs (the majority of trade schools claim a 90% success rate or higher) are not overstated.

In its findings, the department established that approximately 97% of recent vocational school graduates became employed in less than six months of earning their degree or certification, and over 80% of them were employed in their field of study. This rate of success was not just a powerful endorsement for vocational education on the whole, but revealed that it was more effective at placing graduates in relevant jobs than were four-year colleges.

Less Demanding Academic Entrance Requirements

If you are someone who has not traditionally done well in the classroom, or who has not graduated from high school, you?ll find that these challenges will not automatically prevent you from enrolling in a trade college. While the majority of accredited colleges do want applicants to have a high school degree, some will accept relevant job experience, letters of recommendation from managers and the like instead.

The Disadvantages of Vocational Schools

In the same way there are major benefits that vocational schooling holds over conventional colleges, there are also several significant disadvantages. The subsequent disadvantages are generally regarded as the most significant.

Price of Tuition

The more desirable vocational schools are ?for-profit?, and as such place high price tags on their tuitions. By way of example, although the costs do vary considerably from one program to the other, it is not uncommon for the two-year cost at many schools to reach as high as $40,000. The good thing is that there are many financial assistance designated for vocational training students every year in the U.S. ? so much, truth be told, that portions of it often go unused.

Competition for Work

Among the complaints against vocational schools is that they sometimes flood specific fields with too many qualified job applicants, who end up competing against one another and drive salaries down. Regardless of whether or not this situation applies to your field of study, it is something that any future trade school student should think about prior to diving into a vocational training program.

Quality of Instruction

Although in reality it is probably an exception and not the rule, a handful of trade colleges have been accused of hiring teachers whose teaching abilities are not up to par. This view is often influenced by the perception that colleges employ people who are highly touted for their vocational skills, without taking into consideration their abilities as an educator. It merits repeating that this is a generalization that is occasionally made about trade schools, and that fully-accredited institutions are obligated to only employ those educators who are able to meet their state Department of Education?s quality standards.

Overly Specialized Training

For some trade school students, vocational schooling?s concentration on teaching only those proficiencies relevant to their career is a positive, but for others it is seen as a negative. The reasoning behind this viewpoint is that, in the event you eventually decide to change professions and go into a new industry, your vocational education and training will be so focused upon one area that you might be seen as unqualified to do anything else.

Is Vocational School Your Best Choice?

The previously mentioned disadvantages and advantages of vocational training are only some of the factors that you need to consider before enrolling in a trade college. Equally important is researching your individual career objective, and finding out if earning a trade school certificate and degree is viewed as a practical way of gaining entry. What you will find is that employers in certain fields prefer hiring people with trade school degrees, while others opt for university graduates or people who have learned their trade as an apprentice.

Ultimately, trade schools can certainly prepare you for an exciting, lucrative career in a wide variety of industries. It is important to remember, however, that vocational programs are not the only approach, nor always the best means, to reach your goals in every industry.

Would you like more details on vocational training?, then stop by Ayla Ward?s site on financial aid for trade schools and answers to common questions you may have like Is Trade School Right for Me?

Source: http://www.articleinsta.com/is-vocational-education-the-right-choice-for-you.php?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-vocational-education-the-right-choice-for-you

bradley cooper darren sproles james jones james jones olivia wilde kirstie alley houston weather