Dear Science: I’ve been thinking about going back to college or a trade school to improve my chances for continued employment. I see ads for all kinds of educational organizations on TV. How do I determine which of these make sense?
Buck R.
Dear Buck: There are roughly 20,000 post-secondary educational organizations in the US alone. Many of them are highly ethical, but some aren’t even legal. You can’t tell much from their TV ads. Here are questions you should answer before you choose to pursue education at any post-secondary school:
1. Is there a strong market demand for the subject you are interested in pursuing? Rightly or wrongly, the current market has almost no interest in philosophy and English majors, but it can’t get enough computer science and engineering majors.
2. Do employers in the subject in which you are interested require the specific kinds of certifications that are offered by the school? Look at employers’ want- ads. The law requires them to specifically state what educational certifications are required for the positions they post.
Be especially careful with subject-matter names that sound like, but are not identical to, the specific subject in which a potential employer is interested. Some of this “name-game” is harmless; some borders on the unethical.
For example, one school that advertises heavily on TV claims to offer an “Associate of Applied Science in Veterinary Technology” degree. However, this certification has standards that are far less rigorous than the standards of the Veterinary Technician National Exam (VTNE, http://aavsb.org/VTNE/), which is administered only by the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB). If a veterinarian requires a vet tech applicant to have NVTE certification, then that’s exactly what the tech has to have.
Similarly, some schools offer a “Computer Information Systems” degree. This is not the same as a “Computer Science” degree (see http://www.mastersincomputerscience.net/masters-degree-in-computer-science-vs-information-technology-vs-information-systems.html). Typically, a “Computer Information Systems” degree requires less than half of the computer science credits that a “Computer Science” degree does.
As you read employment want-ads, note any credentials that the ad says are “desirable”, “preferred,” or “pluses”. Those credentials aren’t requirements, but any competitor for a job so advertised who meets all the requirements and has the non-required credentials will very likely win over a candidate that doesn’t have all these credentials.
3. Are the certifications of the school in the specific subject in which you are interested accredited by a US Department of Education-recognized accrediting agency (see http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.aspx)?
If the answer to this question is “no”, you are running a high risk that the certifications the school awards won’t be recognized by employers.
In addition, not all accrediting organizations have the same standards. The accrediting organizations recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA, http://www.chea.org/Directories/regional.asp) are the “gold standards” for accreditation among colleges and universities. These organizations have the power to impose coursework content standards on their own members, and they exercise that power.
Accreditation by CHEA-recognized accrediting organizations is performed on a campus-by-campus, and sometimes, on a department-by-department basis, even if the “campus” is just a “web” offering. The main campus of a university might be accredited, but one of its branch campuses might not be.
Some accrediting organizations allow individual members to decide what coursework content is adequate, and as such, they are little more than trade-advocacy groups. Accreditation from them means nothing. Except for colleges and universities accredited by CHEA-recognized accrediting organizations, you have to look at the standards of the accrediting organization; most of these are online or can be obtained on request from the organizations.
4. How does the cost of obtaining the certification at the school compare with the cost of obtaining the same certification at comparable schools? Government-subsidized schools (e.g., University of New Mexico) tend to charge less per credit than independent schools (such as Colorado Technical University and ITT Technical Institute).
5. How will you pay for the education? Including living expenses, a bachelor’s degree can easily cost $100,000 at a state university. Tuition, fees, and books account for about half of that amount.
Not least, you should consider how much your remaining lifetime earnings might be increased with additional education. No level of education guarantees employment, of course. Although in today’s economic environment, about half of today’s new college grads have difficulty finding employment in their field, they still fare better than non-college grads at finding some kind of employment.
If you can reasonably expect to be in the workforce for another 30 years, additional education can make a huge difference in your lifetime earnings. If you are just a few years away from retirement, the cost of additional education may be more than its earnings potential.
For information about what various kinds of jobs are likely to pay over the next five years, see http://cew.georgetown.edu/Clusters/
Jack Horner is a systems engineer.