Florida’s career colleges fare well in their mission
On behalf of our Florida career college association, we concur with the recent concept endorsed by the Sun Sentinel to “Do. Your. Homework.”
Students should always be encouraged to do their research and thoroughly understand all postsecondary education options.
Whether choosing a state or community college or one of our 1,000-campus strong career college infrastructure with more than 250,000 students, each choice should be researched.
There is no such thing a one-size-fits-all education solution. Each offers pros and cons tailored to each student’s individual needs.
Our institutions eliminate barriers to graduation by designing academic programs with sequential classes, emphasizing career relevant content, and maximizing hands-on learning opportunities. And, we provide student services that encourage students every step of the way to their caps and gowns.
Step up they do. Florida’s career college students graduate at twice the rate of their public two-year college counterparts. Florida’s overall trend for all career college student graduations is also headed in the right direction — up 23 percent since 2002.
More graduates also means better paychecks. The Florida Legislature in 2010 documented that private school graduates earn the same as public school grads.
Of course the Florida sun does not rise and set on two-year degrees.
Bachelors and graduate degrees add substantially to the talent mix. Florida’s career college four-year graduation rate of 54.5 percent is still higher than that of public colleges (38.7 percent).
When it comes to realizing the promise of Florida’s students and employers, developing a competitive workforce is an all hands on deck proposition. That will only happen, however, if high rates of college graduation are expected from all sectors of higher education.
Our career colleges are an important part of that mix in Florida.
So, please, do your homework. If you do your own homework, you will discover that private career colleges are focused on completion and that nearly 90 percent of career colleges have no student complaints with their regulators in any given year.