Of all of
the most influential trends that will shape the next decade in
the field of education and career development, there is
overwhelming evidence to suggest that nothing will have more
of an impact than private career colleges. This is because the
structure of private career colleges is conducive to the needs
of students of all ages today, including adults and retirees.
It is also because the traditional public institutions, namely
universities and community colleges, are unwilling or unable
to facilitate changes in time to adjust to the needs of the
new generation of students. Public schools are still run as
they always have been and have not adapted to the changing
demands of today’s students. The fact that private career
colleges can adapt to changes much faster will allow them to
become more attractive to students than will be the
traditional systems.
Consider
some of the main attractions of private career colleges:
- Short
length of time to complete programs:
Many students graduate from secondary school with an
intense desire to get right into their chosen career
field. These students do not want to spend another three
or four years going to school to get a diploma with up to
50% of all courses taken actually unrelated to their
concentration or specialty. They like the fact you can get
a diploma from a private career college in less than a
year. They also like the fact that you don’t waste any
time taking subjects that are not going to help you in
your career. Since career life-spans have contracted
significantly in the past couple of decades, with many
people expecting to change careers every seven or fewer
years, students will not want to spend three years getting
qualified for a seven year career. Private career colleges
are an attractive alternative, but at the present time
very few secondary school graduates are aware that this
option even exists.
- Flexibility
in scheduling classes:
Students who attend private career colleges like the fact
that you can attend class in the morning or afternoon, and
often during the evenings in some cases. This gives
students plenty of time to take on part-time jobs in order
to support themselves while going to school. They also
like the fact that they come to school, attend their
classes, and then go home. There is no time wasted waiting
in between classes. School is run like a business and
students like this approach. It is much different from
traditional publicly funded institutions.
- Less
expensive than traditional colleges and/or universities:
Once they compare the overall cost of attending school,
they find that private career colleges are much less
expensive than traditional post-secondary institutions.
They see that the cost of tuition is pretty well the same,
but they actually save a great deal of money for living
expenses because they only need one year to get their
diploma instead of three. As well, they begin earning a
full salary up to two full years before their peers who go
the traditional route and attend a community college.
- Instruction
is more efficient with focus on what you need to learn:
Students appreciate the fact that private career colleges
have eliminated the frills that are not needed as part of
the program. What you are taught in your course is
relevant to your upcoming career. There is very little to
distract you and you don’t find yourself wasting
valuable time studying and doing assignments for elective
courses that will mean nothing in terms of preparing you
for your career. They also like the fact that you take one
subject at a time, therefore you can focus your attention
on one course instead of up to five or six at a time. This
“immersion” approach is much more effective and
students find that they learn and retain concepts much
faster and better.
- Diploma
is recognized by all employers:
Students are also becoming more aware of the fact that
diplomas from registered private career colleges are
recognized by the Ministries. Therefore, they are
questioning why they should spend three years at a
community college when they can get the same diploma in
one year at a private career college. The more that
private career colleges like CTS can raise their community
profile and image, the more likely students will accept
that it is the diploma that counts, not the school.
Students today are very much time conscious. They cherish
their time and do not want to waste it. Once they find out
that they can save two years of study, and thereby having
two more years of earning income by attending a private
career college, there is virtually no question as to what
they prefer.
TRADITIONAL
SOURCE OF STUDENTS FOR PRIVATE CAREER COLLEGES
There are
over 425 licensed/registered private career colleges operating
in the
Province
of
Ontario
with a total annual enrolment of over 27,000 students. Traditionally,
these private career colleges served students mainly from the
following groups:
- Unemployed
or injured adults seeking re-training for new employment
opportunities
- Disabled
adults seeking qualifications for employment
- Older
adults seeking re-entry to the workplace
- Adults
on welfare or social assistance who are trying to qualify
for meaningful employment
- HRDC
and Social Service funded clients
During the
past decade or so, the average age of students attending
private career colleges has been dropping rapidly due mainly
to the fact that in addition to the traditional sources of
students, private career colleges are beginning to draw
students from several other areas, notably:
- Older
adults who wish to change careers, but who do not want to
spend three years at a community college;
- University
and College students who have dropped out of their
original program after 1 or 2 years;
- Young
adults who went directly to work after high school and who
now want to get into a meaningful career;
- Graduates
right out of secondary school who want to get their
diploma in one year instead of three;
- University
graduates who are seeking a specific diploma to qualify
for an entry level position in a company.
It has
become evident that there are new market segments turning to
private career colleges as a means to satisfy their career
goals and objectives. These are quite different markets than
private career colleges have been accustomed to, and some
changes are going to have to be made in how the organizations
operate in the future with respect to recruitment and
marketing. Change is inevitable and the private career
colleges which are going to survive in the future must take
steps to prepare themselves for the demands of a whole new
cohort of students.
FUTURE
SOURCE OF STUDENTS FOR PRIVATE CAREER COLLEGES
There is
growing evidence to suggest that the majority of future
enrolments in private career colleges are going to come from
three main demographic groups. In preparing this document, I
have limited my examination to the City of
Greater Sudbury
, however, bear in mind that
similar data can be put together for
North Bay
and
Barrie
, as well as any other city in
the province. What is happening in
Sudbury
is reflective of what is
occurring across the province. Future students attending
private career colleges will come from:
- The
22,000 people between the ages of 18 and 29 currently
residing in Greater
Sudbury
Many of these people went to work right after high
school yet 70% of all jobs require post-secondary
training.
Many of these
people are underemployed graduates of college and/or
university currently in meaningless jobs
Many of these
people are post-secondary school graduates who cannot find
a job in their field of study.
Many of these
people dropped out before fully completing their college
and/or university program
Many of these
people are going to change jobs three or more times and
will need retraining with each change.
These people
definitely do not want to go back to school for two or
three years every time they change jobs.
Many of these people have younger brothers and sisters attending
area secondary schools.
- The
38,000 people between the ages of 35 and 50 living in
Greater
Sudbury
Many of these
people need jobs with higher pay because of the increasing
expenses of raising a family.
Many of these
people are re-entering the labour market and need to
retrain to get entry level jobs.
Many of these
people are in need of further training for advancement and
promotion in their current career.
Many of these
people have sufficient savings to go back to school and
start over.
Many of these people have children attending area secondary
schools.
- The
20,000 people between the ages of 55 and 65 living in
Greater
Sudbury
Many of these
people are approaching retirement from their primary
careers.
Many of these
people want to continue working in some capacity and are
willing to retrain to get a new job.
Many of these
people want to begin their own business and need help
getting started
Many
of these people have children and/or grandchildren
attending area secondary schools.
As you can see from the above demographic group profiles, many
of the people in each group have a direct relationship with
students who are currently enrolled in area secondary schools.
The secondary schools operating in Greater Sudbury could
therefore play a very important part in the success or failure
of private career colleges in
Sudbury
. More will be said about this
later on in the document. From a statistical point of view, it
is best to consider that the secondary schools feed the
demographic group of 18 to 29 year olds. Each of the students
between the ages of 14 and 18 who are attending secondary
school will, at the end of four years or less, find themselves
in the 18 to 29 year old demographic group. It is also
important to note, as demonstrated in each of the profiles
above, that all students in secondary schools have brothers,
sisters, parents and/or grandparents who belong to one of the
three main demographic groups from which will come the future
students attending private career colleges. Consider the
following information before we move on any further:
- There
are 12,000 students in secondary schools in
Sudbury
who will all graduate during the next 4 years.
6,000 of these students will end up going directly to work
after high school.
> 70% of all jobs require some post-secondary
school training so they will need to return to school at
some time in the future. The longer they stay out of
school, the least likely they will want to return to a
community college like Cambrian or Collage Boreal. They
will be prime candidates for a private career college
3,000 of
these students will drop out or not complete their original
college/university program
> These students will need to complete a full
diploma course in order to qualify for meaningful jobs.
However, they are not likely going to want to begin a full
program of studies all over again because of time and
financial constraints. They will be ideal candidates for
enrolment in a private career college
.
1,500 of these students will end up being
underemployed or require another diploma
> They will not want to return for another 2 or 3
years of schooling. They will be looking for a quick course
that will qualify them for entry into their chosen career. A
strategically chosen course from a private career college will
help them achieve their goals.
It is also
important to note the number of students enrolled at the
public-sector post-secondary institutions in the region. Some
of these students come from outside the area, but a
significant portion of the students do come from local
secondary schools and fall within the 18 to 29 year old
demographic group, which is one of the groups from which
future students will be drawn by private career colleges.
- There
are 15,000 post secondary students in
Sudbury
who will all be out of school during the next 4 years.
7,500 of
these students will not complete their original program of
studies
> They will seek alternative
training that they can complete quickly. It is unlikely
that they will want to begin a new program that will
result in extra years and much more expense. They will be
ideal candidates for private career college courses that
will help them get into their chosen field.
4,000 of these students will end up underemployed when they
graduate and will need more education
> They will need some retraining in order to get
into an entry level career position. They will consider
using a diploma from a private career college to gain that
entry level. They will not want to take a two or three
year course at a community college after already spending
four years at university or college.
MAJOR
OBSTACLES FACING PRIVATE CAREER COLLEGES
Despite the fact
that there are so many private career colleges in the
Province
of
Ontario
, very few people in the major demographic market segments described
above know much about these institutions. And there is no
evidence to suggest that this situation is going to change
much unless private career colleges completely revise their
recruitment, marketing, and public relations policies. I do
not intend to address all of the barriers and obstacles that
are preventing the growth and expansion of private career
colleges, however, I will include what I feel are some of the
major ones.
- Lack
of awareness among new target market demographic groups:
Few people know about Private Career Colleges, therefore
most of the potential students in the target market groups
described above will not even consider this an option when
selecting which school to attend in order to obtain their
career qualifications. Very little information is
presented at high school about private career colleges,
mainly because the classroom teachers, all products of
university, know very little about private career
colleges. What little they do know is from the “old
days” when private career colleges were considered
institutions for “older adults” who couldn’t handle
the pressures of a “normal” community college. There
is so much misinformation in the community and the schools
about private career colleges that potential students are
not even considering attending a private career college
until they are desperate and referred by someone from
social services. The general public perception is that
private career colleges are only a “last ditch” option
if you can’t get into any other institution. That is why
such a high percentage of students at private career
colleges are being funded by social services. They are
being “forced” to attend a private career college
because it is a quick way to get people off of the social
service roles. This in itself has tarnished the image of
private career colleges which many feel are for people who
are on welfare or unemployed. I once taught a marketing
module to a business class at a local private career
college and during our first session while we were going
through introductions, one of the students said,
“Welcome to the class of losers.”
- Lack
of credibility as a post-secondary training option among
secondary school students:
Most secondary school students have been convinced that a
3-year community college program is better than a 52 week
private career college program because the community
college program is seen as producing a more “rounded”
student. As a result, many potential students are never
given a chance to find out how the program at a PCC
contains about the same amount of instruction time as a
community college or that the programs also contain the
same required core curriculum that one will receive in a
community college. Students have been lead to believe that
the shorter length of program means less quality of
instruction when in actual fact, the additional length of
a program at a community college is only because of the
“extra curriculum subjects” that are included as
fillers to make the program last longer. The core material
is the same, otherwise, the Ministry would not recognize
the diplomas issued by private career colleges. This
message must be delivered in order to improve the
credibility of private career colleges. In my own case,
for example, it took me three years to get a math degree
from Laurentian. During that time I took only five math
courses. All of the others were electives that were not
necessarily even related to math. I could have completed
my degree in one year, taking one course at a time, one
after the other. This is how a private career college
operates.
- Competition
with public sector colleges and universities that have
ties to public sector secondary schools:
The public
sector feeds the public sector, hence, publicly funded
high schools promote publicly funded community colleges
and universities. There is nothing unusual about this, but
it certainly places private career colleges at a
disadvantage. The community colleges and universities also
get preferred status when it comes to presentations and
recruitment sessions. Private career colleges, on the
other hand, are depicted as business enterprises that are
interested only in making profit, and not as interested as
public institutions in the quality of education. This
couldn’t be any further from the truth; however, that is
the perception among the public school system and in
particular among the public school teachers. Private
career college representatives must therefore work much
harder at getting into the schools for presentations and
recruitment sessions. When I represented a private career
college as a secondary school liaison I found I was
accepted by the teachers because I was ‘one of them’
in that I taught for 28 years and was still a member of
the Ontario College of Teachers. I passed the credibility
test with the secondary schools so they allowed me to make
my presentations.
- Unregistered
PCC’s generate a lot of bad publicity:
Each year there are far too many horror stories about
students who have been treated poorly by unlicensed
private career colleges. The general public does not know
the difference between registered and unregistered private
career colleges, so they tend to paint all private career
colleges with the same brush. The classroom teachers and
guidance counselors in secondary schools do not know much
about the local private career colleges, so they tend to
recommend the publicly funded universities and community
colleges that they have full knowledge of from years of
experience. There are not as many spectacular stories in
the media about community colleges and universities being
charged with fraud or operating illegally. You will seldom
find teachers or counselors recommending a private career
college for this very reason. They would rather avoid any
chance of giving students bad advice so they stick to the
public sector institutions instead. It is very much a
choice between the “devil you know or the devil you
don’t know”. Teachers will always recommend the
“devil they know”.
OVERCOMING
THE MAJOR
OBSTACLES FACING PRIVATE CAREER COLLEGES
This
brings me to the main purpose of this discussion paper. As you
know, I operate a private practice as an education, training
and career development consultant. My job is to help students
achieve their education and career planning goals. I am
convinced that private career colleges will play a huge role
in education and career development in the coming years, so I
feel that it is extremely important for people to know much
more about these institutions. In order for this to happen it
is critical that steps be taken to raise the profile of
private career colleges in the community. This cannot be
accomplished through traditional advertising and marketing
methods, but must instead be done using a much more direct
relationship-building strategic plan of action. The good news
is that the cost of these new strategies is much less than the
cost of mass media marketing and will produce a much better
and longer-lasting return on investment.
It is my
hope that the Greater Sudbury Education Centre will be able to
help make a difference in the lives of students of all ages
who might prefer to secure their training through a private
career college in the area.
As you
can see from the list below, there are a significant number of
privately owned training facilities in the Greater Sudbury
Area. They all offer unique education services which will help
you obtain a certificate or diploma that will allow you to
qualify for your chosen career. |
