College Too Expensive? Consider Vocational Training

pipefitting vocational school

TWS is a Great Training Option for Everyone

Learn more about how we can prepare you to advance your career.

Are you ready to move up from a job to a career? Have you been thinking of switching to a new field of work? If you answered “Yes” to either of these questions, you’re probably thinking about going back to school. There are plenty of educational options out there — but when you compare tuition costs with the salaries of recent graduates, a lot of those academic programs just don’t seem like good investments. Debt from four year college tuition gets worse and worse each year: The Project on Student Debt notes that 71% of college seniors last year graduated with loans to pay off, and the average amount of these loans was over $29,000! Furthermore, today’s job market doesn’t have much to offer a new graduate with a bachelor’s degree in history or literature.

Fortunately, there are constructive educational alternatives available to you. Hands-on vocational training programs provide a practical real-world alternative to four years of studying books on abstract subjects that might have little connection to your life. Here are a few of the benefits you can realize from choosing vocational training over a traditional college experience:

Shorter education programs: Unlike the expensive four-year route to a bachelor’s degree, vocational education is designed to use time efficiently. Tulsa Welding School programs shorten your career transition period into just a few seasons, with completion times ranging from 6 1/2 to 14 months. You enter the work force sooner and begin gaining skills and seniority while academic students are still standing in line at the campus bookstore!

Similar earnings: When you read statistics about how 4-year degrees lead to higher incomes, you’ll notice those articles almost always compare college graduates with people who have no education beyond a high school diploma. Of course someone with no skills or job training isn’t going to have much luck in today’s job market. However, you only have to look at a massive statistical engine like SimplyHired to discover that the average salary of a trade school graduate is $42,000. Add in the standard $127,000 cost of a four-year education and the fact that trade school graduates enter the work force years earlier, and you can end up with a lifetime earning difference between trade school graduates and college graduates of only about $6000.

Accessible to older students: Unlike traditional college, trade school programs are typically designed to integrate into the complex lives of working students, which is why the training courses are so tightly focused and schedules can be fairly flexible. Many sources of financial aid are available as well, and advisors at Tulsa Welding School are experts at helping students be successful while meeting their ongoing family commitments.

Have You Considered a Career in the Skilled Trades?

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Employability: If you were a manager, you’d prefer to hire an applicant who came to you with hands-on experience rather than just theoretical training. Graduates of programs like pipefitting and welding have direct experience with the full range of current tools and technology, and they enter a new position completely job-ready. Employers know that they can rely on the applicant’s competence, and won’t have to spend expensive hours introducing them to basic procedures. Furthermore, these professions offer employment security: As they primarily entail manual labor and can’t be done remotely, it’s unlikely they will be outsourced to other countries.

Jump-start your new career today: Contact TWS to learn more, and start making plans for a personally satisfying and economically secure future.

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