Career Colleges Named Best Alternative to Four-Year Institutions by Survey Respondents

PHOENIX, AZ, Jun 19 (MARKET WIRE) --
In a current economy marked by rising unemployment and steep job
competition in which recent college graduates must contend with workforce
veterans for the same limited positions, college students are placing
more importance on degrees with immediately marketable work skills.

According to a recent survey by the Career College Association, almost 50
percent of respondents named career and technical colleges as the best
alternative to four-year universities for preparing students for a
competitive workforce. Only 17 percent favored community colleges, even
though community colleges are typically less expensive than career
colleges, with students taking on an average debt of just $3,200 a year
from student loans.

The community college system has seen a sizable increase in enrollment
over the past 10 years, with a growing number of students capitalizing on
the schools' low costs, two-year degree programs, and flexible schedules
that can accommodate a part-time job.

Career and technical schools, however, which gear their program
instruction toward marketable, workforce-readiness skills in fields like
nursing, computer technology, and automotive technology, have been
steadily increasing in popularity and are now competing with community
colleges for the same students: In the 2005-06 academic year, more than 2
million students -- 8 percent of the 25 million total students attending
institutions of higher education -- were enrolled at career colleges.

Trade schools are also graduating students at a higher rate than community
colleges: 64 percent of students enrolled in career colleges graduate
within three years, compared to only 38 percent of community college
students, who have a dropout rate of 45 percent.

By marketing the importance of workforce readiness over a traditional
"ivory tower" education, explains Harris Miller, the president of the CCA,
trade schools have been able to vie for the position as the go-to
institutions for students looking to obtain immediately applicable
job-market skills from their higher education.

"More and more people are seeing higher education as a pathway to a
specific job or career," says Miller. "Apparently, today they're not
convinced that traditional education, for all its important strengths,
really serves that purpose well."

Offering certified programs for jobs in high-demand fields and established
patterns of strong job-placement percentages after graduation, career
colleges present an increasing appeal to students looking for a leg up in
a saturated job market. According to MarketWatch, trade-school graduates
leave school with a 70-percent chance or better of securing a job after
graduation.

Some of the most up-and-coming jobs as technicians and specialists in
fields like veterinary medicine, health care, and physical therapy call
for the skill sets and training provided by trade schools: Of the 15
occupations projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to grow the
fastest between 2006 and 2016, only six require a four-year or
professional degree.

Because career colleges are primarily private, for-profit institutions
with publicly traded stocks, most aren't subject to the state budget cuts
that can affect community colleges, leaving them in a better position to
provide educational resources than some cash-strapped public community
colleges. On the other hand, career colleges and technical schools
generate their profits and revenues from generally higher tuition and
fees than community colleges and public four-year schools.

While trade-school students are eligible for same federal financial aid --
including Pell Grants and subsidized and unsubsidized federal student
loans -- as students attending community colleges or four-year
institutions, the higher tuition costs at career colleges mean these
students may need to find additional sources of financing, turning to
high-interest credit cards and private student loans, which are often more
costly than low-interest federal student loans.

Nearly 88.3 percent of students at for-profit institutions graduate with
debt from student loans, and 10 percent of those students who graduate in
debt leave school with student loan balances of $45,000 or more.

But as the CCA itself explains on its website, although career colleges do
tend to cost more than community colleges and public four-year
institutions, they're still generally less expensive than private
non-profit colleges and universities. And the higher cost of trade
schools, argue CCA officials, don't come without a return on investment:
According to the U.S. Census data, trade-school graduates will make
$9,230 more in their first year after graduation than those who hold only
a high school diploma, eventually going on to earn over $230,000 more
than high school graduates over a lifetime.

About NextStudent

NextStudent, Federal Lender Code 834051, is dedicated to helping students
and their families find affordable ways to pay for college. NextStudent
offers one-on-one education finance counseling and has a portfolio of
highly competitive education finance products and services, including a
free online scholarship search engine, parent and student loans, college
loans, and information on student loan consolidation programs and college
savings plans.

For more information about NextStudent and its student loan programs,
please visit our website at NextStudent.com.

Contact:
Philip J. Tannenbaum
Email Contact

Copyright 2008, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

-0-