While many college students expect their future to involve crushing student loan debt and a job that doesn’t pay enough to cover the payments, a new public-private partnership in New Jersey seeks to help students avoid such a predicament — that is, if they don’t mind working with their hands.
The advanced manufacturing firm Eastern Millwork in Jersey City, N.J., has developed a partnership with the municipal government and two local colleges that will offer students a five-year combination apprenticeship-degree program. The program’s goal is to help students learn about engineering and manufacturing from both a technical and academic perspective.
The program involves attending class two days a week, while spending the other three working a variety of apprenticeship trades in the firm’s manufacturing plant. The students will receive tuition free of charge, and will also be paid for the work that they complete for Eastern Millwork. As an added bonus, students who complete the program and stay with the company will receive guaranteed salaries of $70,000 a year once they receive their bachelor’s degree.
According to the CEO of Eastern Millwork, the program was prompted by a growing lack of candidates with necessary skills for the positions the firm needed to fill. The president of the company, Andrew Campbell, said the program is both an investment for the company to grow and the kids to get an education.
“This is a business transaction,” said Campbell. “The kids work for me, their job is to go to school. And I think that makes it more efficient.”
While there is an obvious market for students willing to forgo the usual four-year college degree and enter directly into trade schools, students have not been incentivized to choose such a route. With a nearly endless supply of student loans from the federal government, high school graduates often sign up for years of expensive room, board, and tuition, without any guarantee that the degree program they’re entering will provide a well-paying job.
Partnerships like these with Eastern Millwork seem like a wise decision for concerned students seeking a good-paying job that doesn’t involve much debt.
John Patrick is a contributor to Red Alert Politics.
