by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
In a technology–driven economy where jobs come and go based on new operating systems and software, community colleges are becoming the graduate schools of choice for many workers trying to keep pace.
In classrooms at Florida Community College at Jacksonville, students with ballcaps are increasingly being joined by students with receding hairlines as workforce veterans head back to campus. Older students are attracted by low tuition, flexible schedules and focused training that gets them back to work in a fraction of the time of traditional graduate programs. For some, community colleges are the only viable option.
“We work to offer flexibility in terms of when classes are offered,” said Elaine Puri, who heads legal studies for FCCJ. “A lot of the older students are trying to work and go to school, so we try to give them options.”
Like most two-year schools, FCCJ offers classes online, at night, on weekends, even on television. Puri said the night classes are the busiest. She said a lot of her students have jobs, but they hope to get better ones through FCCJ.
She says about 60 percent of her students are over age 30.
To understand the importance of the role filled by two–year schools in retraining the workforce, one needs only to look at the president’s itinerary. Fighting for re-election against an opponent who constantly cites job loss figures in the millions, George Bush has spent as much time in community college auditoriums as fundraisers.
In January, he proposed spending $500 million for continuing education and job training. The initiative would set aside half that money specifically to strengthen community colleges. Bush has touted the program at community colleges across the country. This week he has already visited two-year schools in Charlotte and El Dorado, Ark., promising to double the number of workers who receive job training.
Gov. Jeb Bush’s budget proposes to expand nursing and technology programs at all 28 of the states community colleges. There’s also money to create new training for rapidly-growing fields like biotechnology, where two-year graduates could serve as lab assistants.
One of the primary benefits provided by community colleges is a short, focused curriculum, said Sherri Lit, FCCJ’s interim associate dean of business and professional studies. She said FCCJ works closely with Jacksonville’s professional community to figure out where and why jobs will be needed. The school shifts its training accordingly.
“The job market, especially these days, is changing. We can’t prevent that change from happening so we try to get people trained to earn as much as they can,” said Lit.
Just as the job market changes what it wants, Lit said FCCJ is set up to change what kind of workers it provides. Business students learn the latest Microsoft applications, law students learn on research databases used in Jacksonville law firms.
“You look at when states make predictions about growth areas, where the biggest need for jobs is going to be. We’ve seen that those predictions are not always correct. The community college is more focused on the needs of the community. What employers want locally, what their needs are, is what we try to meet,” said Lit.
After 31 years working for AT&T, FCCJ student B.J. Ellison said she learned her skills no longer met the needs of the job market. After retiring, Ellison said her training as a long distance operator made little impression on hiring businesses. She had always dreamed about working in health care, but worried her age and lack of experience would hurt her.
She hadn’t entered a classroom since graduating from high school in 1973, so she was a little nervous when she signed up for FCCJ’s medical office administration training.
With her 18-year-old daughter as a study partner, Ellison said the course work was overwhelming at first, but she feels now like she’s on track toward her new career.
“It was scary at first, I had been out of school for so long, I didn’t really know what to expect. I realized I had to look at this as a challenge and that it would take a lot of self-discipline to do what I needed.”
Ellison now balances three classes a week with full-time work at a handicapped residence. After 31 years working the same job, Ellison said she’s discovered an enthusiasm for her new work and her new studies. Some of her classmates worry though that she’s taking the self-discipline bit too far.
“I go to all the study groups, and I’m always in the library,” she said. “One little girl in my class tells me I’m too tight. She says she’s going to help me remold my image, loosen me up a little bit.”
While Ellison has been getting advice from her younger classmates, Rachel Taylor has been mostly on the giving end. Taylor, a former military woman who now describes herself as a “mid-40s mom and college student,” spends her out of class hours tutoring in FCCJ’s math lab.
After 20-plus years in the Army, Taylor worked for military contractors before enrolling at FCCJ. She spent her military career installing and consulting on office computer programs. However, to compete in the private sector, she said she needed exposure to its technology.
“I wanted to continue my education, because I saw there was still a lot to be learned about changing technology,” said Taylor. “You have to stay on top of technology because it changes so fast.
“In the military, I would say a lot of our training was pretty specific to military technology. Here (at FCCJ) the process is broadened. There’s a lot of new technology out there, and you have to be able to adapt very quickly.”
Taylor said her military training gave her an advantage in the classroom. She said she sees homework as “another mission to be accomplished.” She shakes her head at some of the students she tutors. Some of them say they just want to learn “enough to get by.”
She said she sees a different attitude from her older classmates. One man is 56 and found himself outdated by his lack of computer knowledge. Those students treat their classes like a job, said Taylor.
“We’re older, we’re going to take things more seriously than if you have mom and dad paying your tuition. We have families to take care of.”