Adults who need a career retraining, especially in the engineering, math and technology, choose community colleges more often. Not only school graduates look for two-year degree programs, but many of those who already have university degrees. The reason is the far-thinking design approach of the community colleges. They have developed practical career-training programs quickly leading students into proficiency with the skills they need for work. Despite general humanities courses, many colleges offer specialized industrial, medical and other engineering-related programs. Being called STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs, those courses draw more than usual students base of community colleges. As the National Post-Secondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) reports, 8% of students who enter community colleges have already got the higher education and received a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree. The key reason is networking ties, cost and industry-experienced faculty. Even though being underfunded, community colleges keep their credit costs down to what students can afford. Working adults can save on getting a degree and yet unemployed college graduates can pay the tuition without adding heavily to their existing college loans. Moreover, community colleges provide the students with close ties to local employers.
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