Up on the soap box: student financial aid

Interesting, thanks for explaining this. Thats very different to how its done in Germany, here vocational training is done by what they call dual-education. That means every company (or most) offers various apprenticeship training positions. You apply for one of those after school, and once you get accepted they start paying you a small salary, starting from maybe $600 and increasing over time (as you become more useful to them). You are then at the company trained on job for 3-4 days a week and at a vocational school for the rest of the time. There you have classes with other people that have chosen the same apprenticeship like you (i.e. mechanic, lab assistant, nurse, ...). The training on job is regulated to make sure you are not used as a cheap laborer but learn all necessary basics.

At the end of the 3rd year there is an exam by the chamber of commerce or the chamber of crafts and you receive a certificate of apprenticeship. Especially in the old trades, you cannot work without such a certificate. In general you need only 9 or 10 years of school to be accepted as apprentice, although there are a few that require a highschool diploma.
 
loki said:
Interesting, thanks for explaining this. Thats very different to how its done in Germany, here vocational training is done by what they call dual-education. That means every company (or most) offers various apprenticeship training positions. You apply for one of those after school, and once you get accepted they start paying you a small salary, starting from maybe $600 and increasing over time (as you become more useful to them). You are then at the company trained on job for 3-4 days a week and at a vocational school for the rest of the time. There you have classes with other people that have chosen the same apprenticeship like you (i.e. mechanic, lab assistant, nurse, ...). The training on job is regulated to make sure you are not used as a cheap laborer but learn all necessary basics.

At the end of the 3rd year there is an exam by the chamber of commerce or the chamber of crafts and you receive a certificate of apprenticeship. Especially in the old trades, you cannot work without such a certificate. In general you need only 9 or 10 years of school to be accepted as apprentice, although there are a few that require a highschool diploma.
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Sponsorship is possible here, but it isn't the norm. Some private companies will hire students to perform nurses aid tasks (bed changes, etc) while they go to school and learn OTJ and will help pay for them to attend school. They still have to attend full time and keep their scores with the standard required. Most hospitals, etc won't do this, but some will help pay off your student loans if you sign a contract with them.

All nurses in the US require a HS diploma (or equivalent) and at least an associates degree (through the RN program, which runs between 2 and 3 years depending on where you go). They also have to take a national test to get certified before they can start working.

Since most nursing programs include hands on training for at least a semester, "OTJ" isn't a requirement, they'll get it through the school by doing their clinical rotations (hospitals, nursing homes, emergent care centers, etc)
Apprenticeship programs are more found in labor trades here.

 
In electronics engineering, a 2nd year College student can enroll in a co-op program for the company sponsoring him/her as long as they are taking courses that are relevant to their career field. They work during the Summer full time and get paid by the company as well as earn a few credits at school for the co-op program. The sponsor sort of hopes they will consider working for them when the student gets his degree.
 
I think such programs are a good thing. If one has to work during college/university it should at least be a job where you learn things relevant for your future occupation. And its even more advantageous for the company because:
- they get a cheap temp. employee that already has some skills,
- they find out if you are the kind of employee they would like to have,
- if you start working for them after graduation you will already know the workflows in the company and have specific knowledge relevant for their business

BTW, how much is the tuition for a "normal" college in the U.S.? When I finished highschool I briefly thought about studying overseas but the few universities I looked up all had INSANE tuition fees, ranging from $15.000 to $6:shock:.:shock::shock::shock: a year.

PJ24: What are labor trades? Things like carpenter or brick layer? I couldnt find that one in the dico.
 
loki said:
BTW, how much is the tuition for a "normal" college in the U.S.? When I finished highschool I briefly thought about studying overseas but the few universities I looked up all had INSANE tuition fees, ranging from $15.000 to $6:shock:.:shock::shock::shock: a year.
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Anywhere from 5K to 40K and up. Ranges vary by the time of college you're looking at, if it is private or state, etc. They can get very high, esp when you start tacking on those extra fees, room and board, food, books, etc. It's really pretty ridiculous. State schools aren't too bad as long as you're a resident of that state, but out of state tuition can be thousands more. And everybody is going to burn their pockets for private universities.

PJ24: What are labor trades? Things like carpenter or brick layer? I couldnt find that one in the dico.
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Yup, labor trades would be exactly those types of jobs.
 
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The Average right now is about $30,000 per year for 4 years. So your talking over $100,000 American Greenbacks for a complete college education.

I graduated in 1996, back than it was $23000 a year, boy have times changed...
 
Sheesh, and people over here are protesting because some of the "Länder" introduced a $1500 tuition yearly... mainly to keep out people who enroll only to get student benefits.

Anyway if I were you I'd study overseas and buy a ferrari instead. Or a Z4 roadster maybe.
 
mmarsh said:
The Average right now is about $30,000 per year for 4 years. So your talking over $100,000 American Greenbacks for a complete college education.

That's not exactly correct.

The average cost of tuition depends on a) the type of college and b) if it is public or private. The entire average is not 30K, that's for private universities only and runs between 23 and 30K with some going even higher than that. Public colleges and universities are 15K but again, there are some that aren't that expensive, and two year colleges are around 11K (though I know several in NC alone that don't cost that much). So really, what you pay depends on the type of school you decide to go to, where it is at, etc.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/18/pf/college/college_costs/index.htm
http://www.finaid.org/calculators/costprojector.phtml
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