Clarkston, Ga. (CBS46) – More and more young people are ditching their college degrees for trade or tech schools, and the job market here in Atlanta is taking notice.
Big companies don’t require a college degree, which is saving college students money and directly benefiting technical schools like Georgia Piedmont Technical College in Clarkston. This semester’s enrollment is up 12 percent from last fall.
In the current job market, many companies are rethinking their hiring criteria.
“We’re in a strange place right now. We have a red heart economy, and you have a labor shortage, and they can’t get enough,” said Dr. Tavarez Holston, president of Georgia Piedmont Technical College.
A new survey shows that many big companies with a strong presence in Atlanta, including Tesla, IBM and Google, are cutting college requirements for prospective applicants. Instead of a four-year degree, they’re using a more skilled approach to employment.
Dr. Tavarez Holston, president of Georgia Piedmont Technical College, said it’s proof that the current college model isn’t working for many companies.
“You start a program, you’re a freshman, and you study until your senior year or whatever, and then you go and get a job. “Well, the labor market is going very differently now,” Dr. Holston said.
Instead, Dr. Holston says, companies are more willing to bring in workers with lower skill levels — train them and even offer incentives to further their education while on the job.
Today, 40 million Americans have student loan debt. The average tuition at Georgia Piedmont is over $1,500 per semester. Students say the college’s low tuition is part of its appeal.
“I can afford to go to this school this semester and I’m still a little short of getting my books and supplies. “Not when I was in four years of college, but I still had to take out more loans,” said Antoinette Ezebuero, a student from Piedmont, Georgia.
Dr. Holston says it’s important to understand that learning is not linear. He says that people should not see education as the beginning or the end.
“Learning is most powerful when applied in context, in real time. At least that’s how we approach technical education,” said Dr. Holston. “Those two things leverage the power of short-term certifications and certifications. A student gets the knowledge they need in a timely manner. They use what they know to do a job. Then, when the time is right, they move up to the next skill set level.”
Holston says this is the future of higher education, if not already in play.
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