| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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| It isn't just an idea. | ||
| It's a process. | ||
| A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. | ||
| It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. | ||
| Democracy in real time. | ||
| This is your government at work. | ||
| This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy unfiltered. | ||
| Joining us now to discuss the state of career technical schools and President Trump's suggestion of redirecting federal grants to Harvard to trade schools is Jason Altmeyer. | ||
| He is the President and CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities. | ||
| Jason, thank you so much for being with us. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for having me. | |
| Why don't you start by telling us about your organization, your mission, and who you work with and represent? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Career Education Colleges and Universities is the national association that represents private post-secondary career schools. | |
| So when you think about career schools, think about the skilled trades, the health care programs, the service industry, the beauty and wellness programs, for example, culinary, truck driving, welding, HVAC, aviation technicians, people in the healthcare programs such as dental assisting, medical assisting, dental hygienists, nursing, so all across the spectrum. | ||
| And we're here today to talk about, in part, funding the, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, CTE programs, as they're known, received more than $1.4 billion in federal funding in 2024. | ||
| It was last week that President Trump put this out on Truth Social saying, I'm considering taking $3 billion of grant money away from a very anti-Semitic Harvard and giving it to trade schools all across our land. | ||
| What a great investment that would be for the U.S. and so badly needed. | ||
| $1.4 billion to all of the programs that you just described compared to $3 billion for just one school. | ||
| Your reaction to President Trump's statement. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, there's different types of institutions related to career education. | |
| So we represent the private post-secondary institutions. | ||
| So the majority of our members are for-profit institutions. | ||
| We have 800 campuses that we represent across the country. | ||
| We do have a significant number of nonprofit members as well. | ||
| And then there are the public institutions, generally speaking, the community colleges in those types of programs. | ||
| So the president doesn't get into how he would direct that funding, what types of programs he would support. | ||
| We certainly are not asking for the money from Harvard. | ||
| It doesn't have to come from Harvard, but we think it's a good investment to invest in career education because we've moved on from this debate about whether or not the four-year path is the most appropriate path for every student. | ||
| And thankfully, now we have a recognition in society that we need those professions that I talked about. | ||
| We need welders and truck drivers and nurses and cosmetologists and culinary experts. | ||
| And these are people that you see every day. | ||
| There's huge demand. | ||
| There's vacancies of 80,000 truck drivers, a similar number of nurses. | ||
| The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that HVAC technicians have a 43,000 vacancy every year. | ||
| So we need these jobs and it provides opportunity for students, often non-traditional students. | ||
| So I think the president is looking at the right thing to direct more money to things that are going to help people and help society. | ||
| It doesn't have to come from Harvard. | ||
| You just mentioned it, but there is a need for these programs as well as there's been a shift in perception for what they can contribute. | ||
| How would you define the current state of career and technical education? | ||
| Where are the gaps in terms of enrollment and what are some of the challenges? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, there are political challenges because when you look at private post-secondary institutions, in particular for-profit institutions, often they are part of a political game of ping-pong from one administration to the next. | |
| And we can talk about that. | ||
| But what you hear from employers all around the country is there is an enormous skills gap for these professions. | ||
| These are jobs that are needed. | ||
| These are vacancies that are there today. | ||
| And employers are having a very difficult time finding qualified workers to do those jobs. | ||
| And that's what our skills do. | ||
| Our schools do. | ||
| You know a little bit about political ping pong. | ||
| You are a former member of Congress. | ||
| Remind us when you served and your district. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I served from Western Pennsylvania from 2007 to 2013. | |
| I served as a Democrat. | ||
| And let's talk about some of those roles. | ||
| You listed quite a few that people may not have been aware fall under the umbrella. | ||
| When it comes to Outlook or most in-demand roles, where is the growth? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, the growth in demand is in the construction industries, in the skilled trades. | |
| If you want to rebuild America, you're going to need truck drivers. | ||
| You're going to need welders. | ||
| We have two schools, one in Seattle, one in Houston, that do underwater construction, underwater welding, very specific, highly technical skill. | ||
| Everyone flies on airplanes. | ||
| If you're sitting on the airplane and looking at those men and women working on the plane outside, those technicians, you want two things. | ||
| You want them to be really good at what they do, and you want there to be a lot of them. | ||
| And that's what our schools do. | ||
| Auto technicians, there's an outdated view that these are people working under the car with wrenches and screwdrivers and the grease is dripping down. | ||
| That's not what they do now. | ||
| These are highly technical computer IT-oriented jobs and you have to be highly skilled to have that. | ||
| And there's a huge demand for those type of jobs right now in the country. | ||
| Jason Altmeyer, President and CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities, is our guest for the next 35 minutes or so. | ||
| If you have a question or comment for him, you can start calling in now. | ||
| The lines for this segment are broken down regionally. | ||
| If you are in the Eastern or Central time zone, your line is 202-748-8000. | ||
| Mountain or Pacific is 202-748-8001. | ||
| And if you have experience with career and technical education, there is a line for you. | ||
| That is 202-748-8002. | ||
| And a reminder, you can also be sending us a text message at 202-748-8003. | ||
| Jason, you talked a little bit about the shift in perception. | ||
| I want to get your reaction to an opinion piece that was in the Hill. | ||
| It says that skepticism about the value of a college degree is growing, even though the earnings advantage associated with the college degree remains strong. | ||
| Calls to offer more young people career and technical education are multiplying. | ||
| Even though such training does not offer many of the benefits of a college education, education plays a crucial, often transformative role in developing human potential. | ||
| College cultivates critical thinking skills, aesthetic appreciation, scientific literacy, and intellectual curiosity. | ||
| It teaches students how to conduct research, evaluate evidence, construct and critique an argument, work with others, appreciate the different perspectives, communicate effectively, and engage in their communities. | ||
| It goes on to say that college graduates pay more in taxes and make, quote, better decisions about health, marriage, and parenting. | ||
| It also goes on to say that they acknowledge the limits of the college for all approach that has been pushed for decades, but they're saying that it remains the gold standard for most as opposed to an alternative program. | ||
| What is your reaction? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I wouldn't say it's the gold standard. | |
| It sounds like that op-ed is discussing the four-year path and perhaps graduate work beyond. | ||
| And there's absolutely a role for that. | ||
| Of course, I went to college. | ||
| I have graduate degrees. | ||
| I understand the argument that's being made there, but it's not one or the other. | ||
| It's what is the best fit for the student. | ||
| And what's most important to remember about career education is these are often non-traditional students. | ||
| These are people in many cases who have tried something else and it just hasn't worked out, have had things happen in their life that are leading them in a different direction. | ||
| For example, single moms, veterans returning from the workforce, people who've been downsized, maybe going through a divorce, whatever it might be, tried a different educational setting, not of interest, didn't work out. | ||
| So we are looking at students that this might be not only their second chance, but maybe their last chance at higher education, at making a better life for themselves, of having a family sustaining wage. | ||
| So I don't think it's an apples-to-apples comparison to look at, well, you could have gone to a four-year school. | ||
| Maybe that wasn't an available option for you. | ||
| Maybe it's not the best for your life circumstances. | ||
| And the opportunity that we provide is for students from that non-traditional setting. | ||
| We have callers waiting to talk with you. | ||
| We'll start with Jane in Augusta, Maine. | ||
| And she is on the line for experience with career and technical education. | ||
| Good morning, Jane. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Jason. | |
| This is Jane. | ||
| And I am familiar with career education. | ||
| I worked as a registered licensed dietician, and I've worked among many practice areas in college, technical, school, training certified food managers. | ||
| And today is World Food Day from the World Health Organization. | ||
| And we need to celebrate more what food service workers do, all people, food servers, food managers, the training that's involved in that. | ||
| And I'd just like you to speak about that and how it relates to all areas of training for food service workers, because a lot of times it involves the food safety code, if you're in a nursing home, Medicare guidelines, and those sort of things. | ||
| Because food safety is very important. | ||
| It's the responsibility of all people. | ||
| Thank you very much for your time. | ||
| Well, Jane, there's a few things that you mentioned there. | ||
| We do support the culinary arts programs. | ||
| There are several excellent schools across the country. | ||
| There are members. | ||
| And when you think about the culinary arts, it does encompass some of what you were talking about. | ||
| You also talked about, for example, nursing homes and maybe health care settings and having folks that are highly skilled and well-trained in helping patients in unique settings. | ||
| So I would agree. | ||
| I mean, these are exactly the type of jobs that are needed in society. | ||
| Often, unfortunately, they are undervalued, but they are of great importance. | ||
| And people who have an aptitude and an interest in those type of professions are very important to society. | ||
| This question is coming in from text from Jesse in Tucson, Arizona. | ||
| Asks, can foreign students attend private trade schools on F1 student visas? | ||
| Does the guest have any opinion about that considering the current political climate? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The issue of foreign students is not as big an issue for us. | |
| When you think of the higher education debates that President Trump is having and the Department of Education is having, things like transgender athletes, campus protests, foreign students and visas. | ||
| We do have schools that have foreign students. | ||
| There have been some issues related to what the President has done and the access for students being able to continue. | ||
| But for the most part, the larger issues that you're hearing debated politically in higher education generally don't apply to our types of schools. | ||
| Let's talk with Christopher in Long Island, New York, on the line for experience with. | ||
| Good morning, Christopher. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Hi, Christopher. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| My question is, as a general manager in a family-owned plumbing business on the North Shore of Long Island, we've reached out several times in the tens to, if not hundreds of times, to our local vocational extension board, offering to either help them with getting instructors or in placement of students that they've graduated. | ||
| We get an interest from the person doing the intake on a call, but we never get a call back. | ||
| How do we motivate Nassau County VEEB to respond back to us because we would be willing to hire these people once they presented us the two certificates? | ||
| The local workforce boards are very important in this process because they do work with employers. | ||
| It sounds like you're not having the best experience, but they do work with the local employers. | ||
| And ideally, the employers, the workforce boards, and the institutions of higher education would work together to identify the jobs that are needed in that area and to help make sure that the curriculum that's provided, especially in career schools, meets the skills that are necessary for employers. | ||
| You talked about plumbing. | ||
| That is a huge issue. | ||
| Electricians, construction, home building, things like that in relation to major commercial projects. | ||
| I mentioned welding and HVAC and all the rest. | ||
| So it is critically important that there's a positive relationship between the local workforce boards and the employers. | ||
| I'm sorry to hear that this particular employer doesn't have a good relationship. | ||
| It sounds like, but it is really important that schools, employers, and the workforce boards work together. | ||
| This is another text coming in from Greg Cleveland, Ohio. | ||
| It notes that he's a teacher. | ||
| It says, this is also divisive to divide four-year colleges and trade schools. | ||
| You can throw all the money you want at trade schools. | ||
| The problem is not the funding, it's the recruitment of students. | ||
| Young people do not want, do not want to go to trade schools, period. | ||
| What role do schools and programs like yours have in recruiting and making people aware that this is a viable alternative? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, there's two things. | |
| One is the idea of pitting different schools against each other. | ||
| That is certainly not what we're doing. | ||
| We recognize that there is an appropriate four-year path for many students. | ||
| What we're doing is giving an opportunity, as we talked about, for students that want to take a different path. | ||
| I would certainly disagree with the question about the students not wanting to go down that path. | ||
| I have visited over 100 of these career schools around the country. | ||
| I've seen and spoken to those students. | ||
| I've attended graduation ceremonies. | ||
| And these are often first-generation students, people who are the first in their family to seek higher education. | ||
| They're happy with what they're doing. | ||
| They feel a great sense of achievement. | ||
| So from that perspective, I would differ with the question. | ||
| But when you think about the type of career schools and the options that students have, that's definitely something that is not competitive with the four-year path. | ||
| Let's hear from Carla in New York City, line for experience with. | ||
| Good morning, Carla. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, hi. | |
| I just wanted to make a comment. | ||
| You kind of grouped nursing in with technical careers like HVACs and plumbers. | ||
| I'm a registered nurse, and I actually have a master's degree. | ||
| Nurses who practice nursing in America most have to have a bachelor's degree, so they have to go to college for four years. | ||
| If you want to go into any type of administration in a hospital, in a nursing home, you have to have a master's degree. | ||
| Nurses also teach at the doctorate levels in universities, because who is going to teach the nurses? | ||
| It has to be somebody with an advanced degree. | ||
| So I think for you to group nurses in with electricians and plumbers is really very misleading. | ||
| I think what you're talking about maybe is nurses' aides, patient care assistants, people like that, who don't need any college degree. | ||
| I think maybe they just kind of go to school for like a maybe year or something or they take courses and they can do that. | ||
| But that is very misleading. | ||
| And I'm actually very offended because during COVID, it was really the nursing profession who held the country together and did really a lot. | ||
| So I think for you to just make that statement is really wrong. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Goodbye. | ||
| Yes, certainly not trying to offend anybody, but it is a fact that 20% of the registered nurses in this country got their training at a for-profit school. | ||
| Many of our members are nursing schools. | ||
| About, again, one in five nurses in the country come from the career path that I'm discussing. | ||
| So I'm not comparing the skill set or the importance of the jobs related to different professions that people can take. | ||
| But it is a fact that about one-fifth of the nurses in this country come from career schools. | ||
| Some elevate, including our members, to the doctorate level, to the baccalaureate, to the master's, and even to the doctorate level. | ||
| So we have schools among our membership that have that entire career path, but there's different levels of nursing. | ||
| Clearly, if you are a nursing instructor or you have a doctorate in nursing, you have a different career trajectory and different scope of responsibilities than someone who has a certificate or even an associate's in nursing. | ||
| But it would be incorrect to say that the for-profit sector or the private post-secondary sector doesn't play a role in nursing because they do produce 20% of the nurses in the country. | ||
| When it comes to access, enrollment, and visibility, I want to share part of an op-ed that was in the New York Times. | ||
| It was written by Randy Weingarten, who is the president of the American Federation of Teachers. | ||
| The headline is stop trying to make everyone go to college. | ||
| During the, in her writing, she talks about the increase in states that are going to voucher programs, and this is where the opinion picks up. | ||
| She says, I propose a different strategy aligning high school to both college prep and in-demand vocational career pathways. | ||
| Just as students who plan to go to college can get a head start through advanced placement programs, high schools, colleges, and employers should work together to provide the relevant coursework to engage students in promising career opportunities. | ||
| More than 90% of students who concentrate in career and technical education graduate from high school, and about three-quarters of them continue their education after high school. | ||
| Research shows that career and technical education has positive effects on students' academic achievement, high school completion, and college readiness. | ||
| What she's proposing there is being involved earlier on what is the original purpose of vocational was to prepare college while they were students while they were in school so they weren't doing more work after. | ||
| People may remember you mentioned earlier mechanics and you may have had auto shop and they've gone into it. | ||
| What is your reaction or your thoughts on integrating better earlier on? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm so happy that Randy Weingarten is taking the lead on this. | |
| I've heard her speak about it. | ||
| We've appeared on shows together having this discussion and it's such a valuable discussion to have because people of my generation that you referenced, you remember you had shop class. | ||
| You had the opportunity to take some of your curriculum at the high school level and learn about the hands-on work and you don't see that quite as much anymore. | ||
| And that at the time, unfortunately, was viewed as sort of the lesser path, you know, where students go that aren't going to go to the four-year school. | ||
| But now it's the path that is of interest to the students. | ||
| It's where their skill set is. | ||
| It's where their interest and their aptitude is. | ||
| And Randy is exactly right. | ||
| We need that to be at not just the post-secondary level, but at the K through 12 level of identifying opportunities for students who have an aptitude and an interest in using their hands, of doing skilled trades, giving them an opportunity to learn what that's all about. | ||
| And if they want to continue at the post-secondary level, they can do it. | ||
| Let's hear from Cindy in Lake Elsinore, California. | ||
| Good morning, Cindy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| I will second the vote of the person in charge of the teachers' unions and stuff that there was a shift of what was taught in the schools. | ||
| It shifted to IT, computers, all that stuff when the kids had the option of taking courses, two courses, and it shifted. | ||
| And now it's a melding of both the IT because it's more technical, you're right, but they don't offer wood shop. | ||
| They don't offer construction. | ||
| They don't offer automotive repair and stuff like that from middle school through high school to where those students can learn that, hey, I might not be good at certain things in the way that teachers teach, but if it's a hands-on application to these younger kids, they know they can say, I like this, and continue on. | ||
| And public education is paid for through taxes. | ||
| And, you know, if they decide that they want to go to a college or a technical vocational school and continue on and pay, you know, for that education, they've got that earlier and they know. | ||
| They can get it in their head. | ||
| You know, they're kind of experimenting at middle school and high school as far as the things they like to try. | ||
| But the shift in more academic college prep, I think, discourages people. | ||
| And I've talked to many hands-on plumbers, air conditioner people, automotive people. | ||
| It's hard work. | ||
| You get dirty. | ||
| But it's technical now, too. | ||
| And I have a brother that was in that career and stuff and watched him over the length of his career. | ||
| And he's probably retired now, too. | ||
| But he had to learn the diagnostics and the computer training to upgrade his skills. | ||
| But if you start younger, it's better than just, you know, somebody knowing that they're better hands-on than they are. | ||
| You know, I don't want to say, it's the intelligence and the way that they learn. | ||
| The hands-on works a lot better for a lot of kids. | ||
| And if they know that prior to getting out of high school, it's a leg up. | ||
| I agree. | ||
| And the caller mentions computer programs, information technology, cybersecurity. | ||
| These are very high growth professions as well, in addition to the skilled trades, get your hands dirty type jobs that she was talking about. | ||
| But having the student the opportunity, giving the student the opportunity to identify where their skill set is and what is of interest to them at the high school level is critically important to allowing them to get into the right career path. | ||
| As I mentioned, many of our students are non-traditional students. | ||
| They have tried other things. | ||
| They're looking at a change in career. | ||
| So it's all types throughout your life. | ||
| But the key to all of it is having the opportunity of being able to identify the school that is of interest to you, the program that suits your needs, and looking at your life circumstances. | ||
| A lot of our programs offer flexibility, evening classes, working students who maybe are holding down a job, raising their families. | ||
| They want to go on weekends. | ||
| So the flexibility is very important too. | ||
| We started our discussion talking about President Trump's suggestion of shifting funding. | ||
| This is something that the Trump administration, before that, has made a priority, even in his first term, is something that he wants to focus on. | ||
| Talk about the impact of his legislative actions and also recent federal or federal legislation on these programs. | ||
|
unidentified
|
President Trump has done a lot, both in his speaking and his ideas, but also through his executive orders related to career education. | |
| He's talked about revising the accreditation system throughout the country to identify some of these issues that we've talked about and allow students a greater opportunity and have accountability at schools. | ||
| He's talked about apprenticeships, which are a critical component to job training, working with employers, giving students that hands-on experience that we're talking about, and putting the funding behind it to back it up. | ||
| Something that he has talked about. | ||
| So when you look at the Department of Education, we're expecting that as they get into the negotiated rulemaking session, they're going to be looking at a lot of these issues that have come up politically in the past. | ||
| And the Congress currently, with the reconciliation bill, the one big beautiful bill that you hear about, there's a lot of higher education provisions in there. | ||
| So we're very excited about the fact that career education is part of the discussion. | ||
| Hopefully we're getting the politics of focusing on one type of institution over another politically and looking at all schools and holding all schools accountable so that all students can benefit from that accountability. | ||
| I think that's where we're going. | ||
| You also mentioned a program that is out in Seattle, one of two that you have out there. | ||
| A headline from Cascade PBS is why Washington Students Are Choosing Career and Technical Education Programs. | ||
| And it talks about the role that state legislatures are playing as well. | ||
| Tell us about that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This school that you're talking about, one is in Houston. | |
| The other one is in Seattle. | ||
| It's called the Divers Institute. | ||
| It's in Seattle, and they teach them underwater construction, so underwater welding. | ||
| And there is a role, of course, every state is different, but there is a role for state funding as well as federal funding. | ||
| And one of the issues that we talk about politically is our schools, of course, don't get taxpayer subsidies in the same way that community colleges do. | ||
| So the taxpayer is paying for that student's education one way or the other. | ||
| They're either paying through the subsidies at the state level or they're paying through the Title IV Pell Grant and student loan programs. | ||
| But those programs, especially the one you're talking about in Seattle, I mean, it costs a lot to put on that program to train those students, to take them out and do what they do under the water and give them the training in the curriculum before then. | ||
| So working with all levels, both state funding and federal funding, and making sure that that student, that their education is available to them, is really important. | ||
| Let's talk with Jeff in Somerville, Massachusetts, line with experience. | ||
| Good morning, Jeff. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think there's a couple of things I want to touch on. | |
| And one is the disparity in the value of labor. | ||
| You know, take teachers and nurses, for example. | ||
| And in my opinion, objectively, they're pretty overworked. | ||
| I know nurses and teachers, and I've heard stories. | ||
| And even if I didn't, I think it's pretty clear that the level of work they do is really intense, especially nurses. | ||
| And, you know, you look over in the tech industry, and it's a totally different world where, you know, people are hanging around having conversations. | ||
| They're getting their corporate lunches. | ||
| They're doing their four to six hour days. | ||
| You know, I know of people who get their bathroom time monitored, and they're grown adults, and they only get 15 minutes of bathroom time a day. | ||
| And I think there's an inherent flaw that we have going on here that just totally disrupts. | ||
| You know everything, and when I tell these tech people that anyone can do what they do, it's not that special. | ||
| They get all offended because they think they're special and they think they're worth their six-figure salary when in reality there's so many people that work harder for them. | ||
| But I also don't want to get too disillusioned here with the massive call to human labor. | ||
| It's as if the country is trying to gather up its labor slaves so we can throw them in their construction jobs and watch them hobble around from all their bodily injuries that they accumulate on their low pay. | ||
| So there's something bigger at play here and it's not just filling the gap or the need for our human bodies to benefit our wealthy overlords who are siphoning from us. | ||
| And I've watched this for my whole life. | ||
| Everything's going downhill. | ||
| Jeff, we'll get a response from Brian. | ||
| Or from Jason. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think the caller is underestimating the work that's done in the IT sector. | |
| But leaving that aside, I do think the caller made a good point about societal value with related to certain professions because there are very important professions. | ||
| Caller mentions teaching as one. | ||
| I would put certainly medical assisting, dental assisting, cosmetology, you know, that is a field of passion for somebody who has a passion and a skill for that. | ||
| And those are all areas that you need a certificate to enter the workforce. | ||
| You have to have training. | ||
| You have to go through the higher education system. | ||
| So there is a cost associated with that, as I talked about. | ||
| If you're a Pell Grant student, you're coming from a very low socioeconomic background. | ||
| You're going to need the help. | ||
| If you're going to attend a community college, the taxpayers are going to fund that through the state level. | ||
| But many of these professions, the student who is entering into it needs the taxpayer's help one way or the other to fund that. | ||
| So policymakers look at what is the postgraduate success of that student. | ||
| What are they earning? | ||
| Are they earning enough to pay back the loans? | ||
| Are they earning enough to pay back the value that the taxpayer has put into that student's education? | ||
| But there's also the value to the job that that student is doing. | ||
| And when you look at those professions that I just mentioned, many of them are jobs that don't pay as much as other opportunities, but they're jobs that are important to society. | ||
| They're jobs that the student wants to do. | ||
| And they're jobs that you need a credential to enter into the workforce. | ||
| So I think when you look at creating public policy, those are all things you need to consider when looking at the accountability of the schools in putting forward these students. | ||
| Something the caller mentioned, and you did too just now, is the earnings for people who go through CTE programs. | ||
| How do those typically compare to somebody who doesn't go beyond high school and those who do graduate from a traditional four-year college? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It depends. | |
| You could become a flight attendant with only a high school diploma. | ||
| You could become a union tradesperson potentially without going through higher education, and you can do well for yourself. | ||
| It's just, you know, your career path and what your family circumstances are. | ||
| If you are a nurse, we had a call by the nurse, you are going to accumulate over time and do very well for yourself as you gain experience. | ||
| If you're a tradesman or woman in welding and in the construction trades, you have the potential to do very well. | ||
| Truck driving, a huge need in this country, and the employers are clamoring for new drivers who are skilled and able to do those jobs. | ||
| Information technology, cybersecurity, the two fastest growing jobs in the entire country are both related to clean energy today. | ||
| It's offshore wind turbines. | ||
| and solar panels. | ||
| So being able to train the workforce for that growing job need is important too. | ||
| And with all of these, the demand sets what that employee is going to be able to make in the job market. | ||
| If there's a high school student watching or somebody else who is listening to this and thinks that this is a path that they want to go down, where do they start? | ||
| Where can they go? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, you would look in your local region. | |
| First of all, I would assume they would want to probably stay close to home. | ||
| We have information on our website about scholarships that are available for students who want to pursue the skilled trade. | ||
| So our website is career.org. | ||
| So students who want to learn more about each of these trades and the financial, you know, the outcome that's possible, but also the scholarships that might be available, you can find through our website. | ||
| But a search of your local community, looking at our schools, looking at community colleges, maybe talking to employers, depending on where they are in the educational process. | ||
| Do your research and make sure you pick the school that's right for you. | ||
| Let's talk with Harold in West Palm Beach, Florida. | ||
| Good morning, Harold. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Wonderful topic this morning as a fashion educator as I am and I'm enjoying Ms. Altmar and his love of knowledge and experience in this critical topic this morning. | ||
| I have a very unusual background how I came to where I am. | ||
| I'm not going to take too much time, but I started in high school in the industrial art class that I had in seventh period, and it was very in that I got interested in welding. | ||
| I did not know anything about welding. | ||
| The sparks really got my interest. | ||
| And unfortunately, after I got my diploma in high school, I got in trouble. | ||
| I went into a youthful offender program for about nine months, came out of there on probation, and what did I do? | ||
| I enrolled into Apex Technical School for six months to learn welding and blueprint fabrication. | ||
| I did that for 10, 11 years. | ||
| I worked with an aviation company overhauling combustion chambers as a welder. | ||
| We had to be certified twice a year to maintain that position. | ||
| And that catalyted me there on to get my bachelor's, my master in educational leadership, and wrap up my PhD. | ||
| I'm currently an adjunct professor, and I'm a school district employee, Ray, and I encourage all our secondary students to not only look at the path of four-year schooling, however, look at also the possibility of going to a trade school, which you may find your passion to go into higher education. | ||
| So I'm a proponent for both. | ||
| It shouldn't be one pitting against the other. | ||
| We have to do a better job, I would say, in literally marketing and having schools bring in for assemblies trade schools. | ||
| We don't have that anymore. | ||
| So I think that with that, we can really move our education system forward. | ||
| And we really have to really get our job core back on track. | ||
| I'm not going to get in the politics of that, but I have a family member that went to Job Corps and established Scrum's Job Corps, hospitology certification, and have a thriving coffee business at this point. | ||
| So I'll listen to your comments. | ||
| What's interesting, talking about having a business at this point, is many of our schools do train in entrepreneurship and customer service and giving the students some background in the potential of opening up their own business. | ||
| If you look at cosmetology, for example, that's certainly something that students aspire to do. | ||
| So, making sure that they are exposed to the business aspect of what that might look like. | ||
| And is that really something that you want to do? | ||
| And many of them have been very successful. | ||
| And I would agree on welding. | ||
| Welding is a great career. | ||
| It's one of these jobs where there's enormous demand, both men and women. | ||
| There's great growth in women going into welding in the skilled trade. | ||
| So I would agree with the caller that these are schools that are providing opportunity, and it doesn't have to be for people to go down the four-year path, but to do what they like to do and something that's of benefit to society and that fills the skills gap that employers are talking about. | ||
| We have one last call for you. | ||
| It is Bob in Margaretville, New York. | ||
| Good morning, Bob. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I'd like to, so far, I'm 100% with you. | ||
| I had a successful son who went through the BOCES program down on Long Island. | ||
| He's currently doing very well. | ||
| They got a business running, successful business running in South Carolina. | ||
| My question to you is with my other child, my daughter, who also went to a BOCES program. | ||
| They're big in the Northeast. | ||
| I don't know what you reference them around the rest of the country. | ||
| But it's the school districts, centralized location, plumbing, electrician, culinary, anything that you can imagine. | ||
| So my daughter takes a CNA course, works over on the island for Mount Sinai affiliate, moves to Virginia. | ||
| They did not recognize any of her certificates. | ||
| Moved down there during the prior to the pandemic. | ||
| There was a great need for these people. | ||
| She had to go to college for two years to get recertified as a CNA after working eight years. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| There's where I got a problem. | ||
| If you're certified in one state to carry over, I think a quick check of recertification into the state that you're moving to, and they look at your credentials, I think that should be sufficient. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Should the state want to add a little bit here and there for their medical requirements, that's great also. | |
| I'm 70. | ||
| I watched BOCES. | ||
| I did the welding like that last gentleman. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| All the shops. | ||
| I happened to work for a school district and they changed it to technology. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All of that kind of went out the window. | |
| You learned on a computer and then you applied it. | ||
| You weren't making projects, foundry, welding, any of that. | ||
| The BOCES programs, and to the fellow in Nashville County, get in touch with your BOCES. | ||
| That's how my son found his job. | ||
| They posted those jobs and he went out. | ||
| Boom. | ||
| So I'd like maybe to address that if we could. | ||
| The certifications. | ||
| You did it for the nurses during the pandemic, but you got to recognize. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And the last thing I'll tell you is New York State with their Class 1 drivers. | |
| If you had that, you could go to any state. | ||
| That has since gone over the last 50, 60 years. | ||
| Everybody wants to get in on the money end of it. | ||
| So that's my comment, and I'd appreciate your thoughts on that. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| This is a big issue. | ||
| One of the things that we also do at our association is we manage state associations. | ||
| We have 17 states that are under the umbrella of state associations that we manage. | ||
| And the ability of a student to be educated and get certified in one state, nursing is one example. | ||
| It does apply to other jobs as well. | ||
| To be certified in one state and then take those credentials and your experience to another state. | ||
| It's not automatic that you're going to be certified in the other state. | ||
| So there are compacts that are established through nursing and these other jobs where a state would agree to accept the credentials from other states, even though they might not align perfectly with what the credentials would be if that student had gained their education in that state. | ||
| So it is an important issue. | ||
| It's something that I think we're making progress on around the country. | ||
| And it's helpful in a society that's somewhat transient to be able to go into a different state, carry out your same occupation, and not have to take on additional educational requirements. | ||
| Jason Altmeyer is president and CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities. | ||
| You can find out more about the organization online at career.org. | ||
| Jason, thank you so much for being with us this morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for having me. | |
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