Re: college next year!
My son in law took diesel truck mechanics at a highly rated private college, and it's now $23K for a one year program.
$23K is nuts. That's either one poorly run facility with a lot of waste, or else someone's getting very wealthy on the backs of youth.
I teach in a heavy equipment college program. The trick is industry partnerships. Our tuition is about $7K for a 1 year program but a student can apply for bursaries and get that reduced.
A paid internship in the middle of our program can help students come out with very little debt if any.
As I advise any prospective student: start with your dream employer. Go where you'd love to work one day and spend a career. Ask them where they hire from - what school they support and would look to for new hires.
Being a great school that gives a great education and has great faculty isn't worth a hill of beans if the employers are funding a competitive program.
If a network of Mercury dealers are dumping tens of thousands in support for school "B", and a tech wants to work there.... School "A" is not a good place to go, even if the teachers are really great.
