A few questions for those in the "bizz"

[LittleBigFoot]

I just got accepted into Denver Automotive and Diesel College (Lincoln College of Technology) I've heard it's a great school. The only downside is a $30,000+ tuition. (Out in two years, out with an associates degree)
The community colleges offer the same programs for less cost. A lot less.


What I'm getting at is: Private School vs. Community College in the Automotive Tech. field


Who's gone to either and what can you tell me about what you learned/job placement/income/worth?

Thanks,
Adam

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My brother is going to a Community College for the Ford ASSET program. You have to have a dealership sponser to go thru the program, so placement is pretty much garenteed unless you do something stupid. I don't know how much it costs, but I think it is less than $30k, even with tools included. He goes to school for a quarter and then works at the dealer for a quarter so you get real world experiance and a chance to earn money while you are going to school, it sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

I'll head to my Ford dealership and see if they offer something like that in my neck of the woods. Thanks for the idea


Adam

 

[Ranger5.0]

Im finishing my last semester of "Motive power-Heavy equipment" at Sir Sandford College in Ontario. Tuition isnt 30 grand tho, more like ten. and no degree, I dont see a need for that if your a Technician... If i stay for the 4th semester i will get a diploma in heavy equipment as well as Electrical Power Generation. Both fields are huge, and thouse who cut it end up with good jobs and decent starting wages. Everyone in my class who busted there ass has a job waiting when they graduate, I signed a contract with Deere also.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

Hmmmm... Right on Ranger5.0


Anyone else?

 

[86ford]

not speaking from automotive experience but from real world experience, when you go in search of a job they care more about your skills and abilites than were you completed your program. if you have the exact same certificates as another guy and went to a community school it all comes down to whos a better mechanic and who has more real world experience in 95% of the cases. i reccomend community school and a part time job in the feild because many places like experience as much if not more than formal education. you can tell any retard how to properly ajust a distributor or run a system scan but that dosent mean that they can provide quick reliable repairs!
debt sucks!
86

 

[Ranger5.0]

some things must be different, In ontario, if you dont come from my program Tormont CAT doesnt pay much attention to you. I think its 50/50. Where you came from your grades your experience, it all pays off. Im moy program, you MUST compleat a 4 month internship, and in order to pass and move on, the place you did your internship grades you on your performance.

 

[86ford]

dont get me wrong, if you go to one of the top ten schools in the country and do well you will be better off but at what cost? a year or 2 worth of pay or more in tuiton? the people who are good and have the certs tend to do just as well if not better than those who have the label of a high end school on there degree and certs backing them up.

86

 

[Will]

A year or two in tuition?

Go to the best school you can. A year or two of salary worth of tuition? What's that matter in a 40+ year career. Always give yourself the best leverage for the future.

I know of one guy that was an old time "good at what he does" that is still in a technical job with no degree. If his company ever folds, he's screwed. Nobody else will hire him for what he does without a degree. He's like that fish the Japanese fishermen pulled out that was extinct 2 million years ago. This guy KNOWS he's extinct and prays nightly his job doesn't go away. Me too because he's a great guy.

Don't plan to be obsolete.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

A year or two in tuition?

Go to the best school you can. A year or two of salary worth of tuition? What's that matter in a 40+ year career. Always give yourself the best leverage for the future.

I know of one guy that was an old time "good at what he does" that is still in a technical job with no degree. If his company ever folds, he's screwed. Nobody else will hire him for what he does without a degree. He's like that fish the Japanese fishermen pulled out that was extinct 2 million years ago. This guy KNOWS he's extinct and prays nightly his job doesn't go away. Me too because he's a great guy.

Don't plan to be obsolete.

For 30k in tuition you can do alot more than turn wrenches, from the sounds of things that doesn't even include tools.

 

[Ranger5.0]

that is a ton of money, mayby its not to spin a wrench..I payed 10 grand not including tools, and its a program thats finished within a year.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

It's for Auto and Diesel and it's for tools in both.

I see opposing view points. Either way, I'm taking a full ride scholarship test saturday. If I can get a chunk paid for I think I'll attend DADC. If not, I'll go for the community school

Oh, the test is the same as the ASFAB pretty much. I'm trying to get my hands on a test copy to see how I should do.


Thanks guys

 

[Ranger5.0]

auto and diesel? so its automotive tech' plus diesel technology?

 

[LittleBigFoot]

Yes, and not just Diesel trucks, but generators and everything diesel

 

[thegoat4]

I went to Texas State Technical College in Waco. It was a damn good school and I found it by simply going to a few repair shops and straight-up asking. One shop knew the instructor, and the foreman there even called the school for me and set up a visit.

I wound up going, and two years later went right back to that same shop for my first job. Cost me only $8k altogether, associate's degrees in both heavy truck and heavy equipment.

The most expensive option is not necessarily the best. Visit, and see how dirty the students get. My classes were 30-50% lecture, the rest was lab. Everything from teardown to overheads to machinework to welding to calculating pump horsepower and voltage drop through a circuit.

Plus we did a lot of work for people around the school. I got to help rebuild a backhoe, inframe a detroit, and convert a few dozen AC systems. And a built some tools I still use daily, like a badass gasket scraper.