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Community colleges welcome anyone who desires to learn, regardless of wealth, heritage, or previous academic experience. Community college wants to provide equal and fair education opportunities to all. Community colleges is a community based institution of higher education with comprehensive educational programs. Some benefits to attending a community college include:

Tuition
There is a financial advantage to attending community college. Most students are able to take general education classes, explore interests, and learn with half the cost of a 4 year college.

Flexible Schedule
Community college is a great avenue for students who plan on working while receiving an education. They offer more night classes and flexible schedules than colleges or universities. The class size are also smaller which allows optimum learning.

Exploration
Community college can give a student the opportunity to explore different major options. Classes cost less, so a student can explore different classes they might not have considered at a college or university.

Transitional
Attending community college allows students to earn college credits while taking the time to select a 4 year college or university that is the right fit for them. A lot of community colleges have programs that transfer to 4 year colleges or universities. For example, CCP has programs linked with Temple University and West Chester University. This gives students the opportunity to get their general education classes out of the way without paying a 4 year college tuition.

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College Tips - The Community College Advantage

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Heather and Kelsey, EICC Admissions Officers, are going to fill you in on the advantages of choosing a 2-year community college as the start to your 4-year degree.

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The military can be a great option to look into instead of attending a college. The military offers great opportunities to students coming from high school. If you choose to pursue a military academy, you could experience a military education followed by a stable, interesting career. You will also receive a free college education, and every branch has an academy. Or there are tuition programs that will help you become a leader in a military setting while earning a college education at the same time. Even if you do not choose to stay with the service or if you do not choose to pursue an education, the military teaches you valuable skills and sets you up for life afterward.

Some benefits to joining the military include:
* Answering the call to serve your country
* Traveling
* Educational and monetary benefits that can last a lifetime
* Personal satisfaction and pride
* Family tradition
* Honor
* Devotion to duty
* Learning useful new skills
* Full-time employment
* Job security
* Personal improvement

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Nicholas Whitaker, 17, was planning to go to college in the fall, but the prospect of graduating deep in debt sent him looking for alternatives.

With a family background in the military, he settled on the Army and ships off to boot camp in August, hoping eventually to end up in air assault school.

"I always wanted to explore new places," said Nicholas, who graduated last month from Winter Springs High School.

The military already was facing higher recruitment numbers set in December by President Barack Obama. The task would get tougher under President Donald Trump's newly unveiled budget, which calls for an expansion of all branches except the Army.

An improving economy compounds the difficulty for military leaders searching for more young people like Nicholas.

"The talent pool is getting harder and harder to pull from," said Maj. Bryan Lewis, an Air Force spokesman. "We're competing for talent in the marketplace. We need America's best talent from all corners of the U.S."

In response, the Army, the largest branch of the service, is sweetening the pot. Incentives include two-year active enlistments designed to appeal to millennials who want to serve between high school and college.

The Army, Air Force and Navy offer signing bonuses of up to $40,000 for high-demand, dangerous and specialized fields including Navy SEAL; Arabic, Chinese and Farsi translator; and explosive ordnance disposal technician.

The Marine Corps, in contrast, focuses on whether prospects truly want to join and meet the mental, moral and physical requirements, a spokesman said. The branch offers $2,000 to $8,000 for new enlistees for in-demand jobs, including supply, accounting, legal, motor transportation, ground electronics maintenance and musician.

Although entry-level military salaries can't generally compete with the private sector, perks such as schooling, housing and food allowances, and full health care can be alluring to the right demographic, said Barbara Gannon, associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida and an Army veteran.

"They often take the cream from the working class and the very good from the middle class whose parents won't pay for college," Gannon said.

Orange County public schools have 381 military commitments from students spread across every high school, Area Superintendent Harold Border said. The largest service branch, the Army, will take 151 new recruits from the county's high schools, he said.

"They have some very attractive technical programs," said Border, who joined the Navy for the college money. "You can go in the military and retire after 20 years and still have a full career ahead of you."

Young people usually sign up for several main reasons, experts said: tuition benefits, patriotism, a history of military service in the family and not having a defined career plan.

"The military can help you decide what you want to do, and you get paid," said Mariah Anderson, 17, a Winter Springs High Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps student who also graduated last month. "There are great benefits, and the discipline is great."

Central Florida has one of the biggest goals for incoming new soldier groups in the U.S. - 700 this year from Orange, Seminole and Lake counties, said Capt. Shaun Tateishi, commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Company in Orlando.

But recruiting may get tougher in the coming years: The number of high school graduates is expected to decline through 2023.

Magnifying the issue of low pay, the national economy is continuing to recover from the economic collapse; April's national unemployment rate was 4.4 percent, the lowest in 10 years.

"The economy always drives enlistment," Army spokesman Carlos Sanders said.

Another complication for recruiters is that 70 percent of today's young people don't meet military qualifications. The top reason is obesity, Army recruiters said.

Regardless of the challenges, the number of troops is slated to increase.

Trump has talked extensively about strengthening the military, but it was Obama who, before leaving office, signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which increased the size of America's armed forces, forcing recruiters to up their game to make their numbers by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Trump's budget would add 4,000 more airmen for a total of 325,100, 1,400 sailors for a total of 327,900 and 574 Marines for a total of 185,000.

The Army wouldn't grow under Trump's proposal for 2018, but Obama mandated 6,000 more recruits beyond the 62,500 originally planned for this year.

Legally, military recruiters have to be given the same access to high school campuses as potential employers and colleges. They are especially welcome at some schools, including Lake Minneola High, which had a military signing ceremony in April to honor students who enlisted in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

"I've always wanted to join the military," said Austin Coleman, 17, of Clermont, who attended the ceremony and committed to the Navy. "I'm excited to go to boot camp and finally start my life."
sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-540-5981

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Recruitment incentives lure high school grads to military careers

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Nicholas Whitaker, 17, was planning to go to college in the fall, but the prospect of graduating deep in debt sent him looking for alternatives. With a family background in the military, he settled on the Army and ships off to boot camp in August, hoping eventually to end up in air assault school.

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After high school one option you may want to consider is enrolling in a vocational or trade school. Vocational and trade school educations are popular programs for students who want hands on, fast-track highly skilled careers. Vocational and trade schools help students train to succeed in the workplace.

Vocational or trade schools, are post-secondary educational institutions that provide training and instruction for highly skilled careers. They teach job specific skills that emphasis on the practical, hands on education. Many vocational schools now offer degree-transfer programs, allowing a student to transfer some of their credits to a four year college or university.

Some things to consider when looking at vocational or trade schools include: placement rate; student completion/graduation rate; up to date facilities; the services they offer; and tuition/fees.

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Education has become not just a goal for students, but an industry that is driven by the misconception that there is a right way and a wrong way to earn your diploma. The truth is that after graduating from traditional 4 year college programs, many young adults are left directionless, without a set of practical skills or even relevant career experience. Watch this video to learn about some of the benefits of attending training programs at career colleges. For more information about training for careers in law, IT, healthcare, business administration, cosmetology, or accounting, contact an Admissions Counselor at MTI College.

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Advantages of Training at a Career College | MTI College

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Education has become not just a goal for students, but an industry that is driven by the misconception that there is a right way and a wrong way to earn your diploma. The truth is that after graduating from traditional 4 year college programs, many young adults are left directionless, without a set of practical...

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A gap year can include many things such as traveling the world and volunteering before college. This practice is becoming more popular and accepted in the United States. A gap year doesn't have to last a full year, but the typical gap year is taken by students between high school and college. According to Gail Reardon, "A gap year is about what happens after school, how you make decisions, how you figure out who you are, where you want to go, and how you need to get there. It's about the skill set you need to live your life" (Kern, 2010).

Students can apply and get accepted to college before taking a gap year. If you are accepted but want to take a gap year, they can defer and outline to admissions what they plan to do for their gap year. Students would just have to reapply for aid when they want to attend the school and scholarships depend on the school.

A gap year can help a student mature, find confidence in themselves and even help them become career driven. According to Goodman, "Taking a gap year can clarify the intellectual, academic, and professional objectives of a student" (Kern, 2010). This can be a different kind of learning for students and help them gain life experiences.

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Some people cannot attend college directly out of high school or it is something that they do not want to pursue at this time in their life. In some cases there is a financial aspect, family need, etc. In other cases, a student does not have direction and does not want to jump into college right away. Although attending or graduating from college typically leads to higher salaries, that doesn’t mean there aren’t benefits to getting a job right out of high school. Some benefits of getting a job out of high school include: money, career exposure, responsibility, and paid tuition.

Money
Earning a paycheck can be a motivator for getting a job. Students who worked part-time during high school might be able to stay with the same employer on a full-time basis and with higher pay. Or a student can pursue a job that does not require a degree. For example, a lot of labor jobs can pay good and help someone get the experience they need in the working world.

Career Exposure
This is a way to gain career exposure and experience in different fields. Career goals can change and working straight out of high school can help someone gain different experiences in different industries. This can help people cross certain industries off the list and make a more informed decision on what they want to do as a life career. This can also help you gain experience and learn about different skills needed for specific jobs.

Responsibility
Real work experience can teach you how to be responsible. This can help a young adult be responsible at their work place and than that can transfer into their every day life.

Paid Tuition
Many companies help employees pay for college tuition if their employees major in something that is beneficial to the company. For example some places have tuition reimbursement. While others, like Starbucks, help their employees with their tuition.

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CLOSE

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are streaming back into an improving labor market as employers raise wages and hire less skilled job candidates to cope with an intensifying worker shortage.

The portion of the U.S. population working or looking for jobs - known as the labor force participation rate - has risen to 62.9% from 62.4% since September, Labor Department figures show. The rate had been falling since 2008, mostly because of baby boomer retirements, and that's still expected to be the long-term trend.

Yet part of the decline was caused by a bruising post-recession job market that prompted discouraged workers to drop out of the labor force and many other unemployed Americans to retire, go on disability or return to school.

At least some of those idled workers are returning to work or looking again now that the jobless rate has fallen to 4.9%, a level many economists consider full employment. They've been drawn back by employers who are raising pay or becoming less selective..

"We're just hearing a lot more openness" from employers, says Tim Gates, of staffing firm Adecco.

Wells Fargo said recently the rebound appears to be driven by the less educated, including discouraged workers who had been on the sidelines. Since September, the participation rate for college graduates with at least a Bachelors degree has dropped to 73.8% from 74.4%. The rate for other groups, including high school graduates and those with less than a high school diploma, has climbed at least half a percentage point.

Even so, their unemployment rate has declined, indicating that many of those returning are landing jobs despite increased competition from their peers.

Other groups are also coming bac, including retirees, the disabled and people in school, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis. Many are enticed by rising wages. Although average wage growth across the economy has been tepid at about 2% nationally, average earnings for private-sector employees in the same job at least 12 months jumped 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to payroll processor ADP.

Companies are also getting creative. Adecco's Gates says some manufacturers unable to find experienced workers are splitting jobs into two positions and hiring less skilled candidates for the simpler tasks. Others are bringing on unskilled workers and training them, a strategy rarely deployed when unemployment was elevated after the recession, says Becca Dernberger, of Manpower's Northeast division.

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1RuZMcq

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Why more and more in U.S. are returning to work

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CLOSE Hundreds of thousands of Americans are streaming back into an improving labor market as employers raise wages and hire less skilled job candidates to cope with an intensifying worker shortage. The portion of the U.S. population working or looking for jobs - known as the labor force participation rate - has risen to 62.9% from 62.4% since September, Labor Department figures show.

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http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Pages/default.aspx

http://todaysmilitary.com/joining/enlisting-in-the-military

http://www.gocollege.com/options/vocational-trade-schools/

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/right-school/timeline/articles/2010/05/19/7-questions-to-ask-when-considering-a-gap-year