Community colleges finding more students hoping for midlife career change
Doug Hoagland, MCT
Issue date: 9/10/08 Section: News
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"Who would have thought that I would be starting a brand-new profession at my age?" said Lawrence, a former flight attendant and former real estate sales manager. "Come on. This is ridiculous. Actually, I'm up against a wall."
Thousands of similar students-people battered by layoffs or fearful of losing their jobs-will flock to community colleges this fall for retraining or polishing job skills, officials say.
Community colleges, however, don't expect to get enough money from the state to cover the cost of educating the new students.
Valley community colleges anticipate that fall semester enrollments on some campuses might jump as much as 11 percent over the previous year-in part because of the economy.
"When there are jobs, people go to work," said Steve Renton, spokesman for College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif. "When there aren't jobs, people go to school to get training for work."
The economy has not been kind to Lawrence, who is single.
People were afraid to travel after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001-Lawrence said she was furloughed and eventually resigned from her airline. She switched to real estate, but was laid off because of the slowing housing market.
"I'm just praying to God that this psychiatric technician job is the answer for me," Lawrence said.
Lawrence started an accelerated program at West Hills College last August to become a technician-someone who gives medical and mental health care to the mentally ill in prisons and state hospitals after being licensed by the state. Technicians also work with the developmentally disabled.
Because community colleges save students time and money, they are attractive to many older students who need a career change, experts said.
At Fresno City College, for example, annual class fees are $480, assuming a student takes 12 units of course credit each semester. Undergraduates taking the same number of units each semester at California State University, Fresno will pay $3,687 in 2008-09 for fees.
Spending four years at a CSU doesn't guarantee a job, said Lawrence, who feels life rushing past her: "I already have some friends who are retired, and I'm still trying to find a decent job."
Meanwhile, even people who still have jobs are looking to community colleges for career options. Mark Espinosa, for example, is a 51-year-old telecommunications salesman from Fresno. He's worried about job security-even after 16 years with his company-because of the tough economy.
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