You may have heard about ITT Tech closing up all of it’s campuses earlier this month, after having been in operation for over 50 years. There’s a lot to that story, with more information still coming out, but many of us wondered if our darling Vo-Tech School Central Tech—based out of Drumright, but with a campus in Sapulpa—might suffer the same fate. We reached out to Stephanie Pool, the director of marketing for Central Tech, who recently won the highest communications award in CareerTech. Here’s what she had to say:
No, this will not affect Central Tech. Here’s why:
The U.S. Department of Education requires career training programs to demonstrate that enough graduates have found “gainful employment,” ensuring students have the opportunity for a better future. Basically, if schools want federal funds, they have to prove students can get good jobs.
Central Tech follows up on the success of each graduate annually. Currently we boast a 93% placement for students entering the workforce or continuing their education, and an 87% placement of working graduates employed in a job related to their career major. Our annual average salary for all entry-level working graduates is $32,384. The hourly average annual wage for graduates in job related careers is $15.42.
The federal standard is based on three metrics: at least 35 percent of former students must be repaying their loans; annual loan payment cannot exceed 12 percent of graduate’s total earnings; and annual loan payment cannot exceed 30 percent of the individual’s discretionary income.*
Central Tech students do not receive student loans, but they may qualify for the Pell grant. Therefore, Central Tech students graduate with no loan debt.
Schools are required to post the information on their websites. Here’s a link to our practical nursing gainful employment page – so you see what is required as far as cost, financing, and success. http://www.centraltech.edu/gainful_employment/LPN/Gedt.html
Any career major that qualifies for grants or loans and has more than 10 students graduating in a year must show gainful employment.
Here’s a list of our career majors that qualify for the Pell grant: http://www.centraltech.edu/gainful-employment.html
Central Tech
What makes Central Tech (part of the Oklahoma CareerTech system) such a success is our ability to help our students find success!
Since Central Tech works closely with business and industry partners, instruction remains career-focused, teaching today’s career-readiness skills with hands-on relevant learning leading to credentials aligned with business needs. Curriculum incorporates problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration into the assignments. Students complete their training by earning valuable certifications/licensure driven by the demands of these high-skill industry sectors.
Central Tech is making strides to close the skills gap in our district. Each program and service area at Central Tech gains leadership and cooperation from the private sector through advisory committees comprised of business and industry partners, former students, parents, and agencies who guide program direction. Committee recommendations provide an effective means to aligning and teaching relevant curriculum using today’s technology and equipment, thus, preparing students with skills needed for success and ensuring a productive workforce for Oklahoma’s economy.
Central Tech Advisory Committees help determine future high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand jobs for tomorrow’s workforce. Central Tech can then establish courses to meet the demands of the workforce while increasing employment opportunities for graduates.
In fact, 100% of the advisory committee members rate the quality of instruction/curriculum as excellent or above average, 98% rate quality of graduates as excellent or above average, and 95% rate quality of equipment as excellent or above average.
In short, students graduate with high-skills, earning a high-wage, with a job in high-demand, and no student debt.
Powered by CareerTech:
Career Tech is the most important economic resource in the state of Oklahoma, because it puts people to work in better jobs. Annual statewide enrollments total more than half a million, and more than 92% of graduates go on to a job or more schooling. Those workers get better jobs without the crushing burden of student debt from private training schools.
Oklahoma Career Tech system graduates add a net benefit of more than $3.5 billion annually to the state’s economy.
The majority of workers needed to fill Oklahoma jobs by the year 2025 will need training that Career Tech provides. Without this public resource, businesses will find it difficult to find the trained workers they need to be successful here. Oklahoma’s Career Tech is the most successful program in the nation because of how it is structured, and funded.
