Pipeline to good jobs just got bigger

For too long, barriers to the education and skills required to get a “good job” have been too high and too expensive. Also for too long, the definition of a “good job” has been relegated to a finite number of white-collar careers, despite what we now know is a drastically inconsistent rate of return for those types of jobs, often depending on specific degree and field of study.
The New England Institute of Technology deserves a large round of applause for its recent effort to address both of those imbalances – and for working toward a future where more people can pursue an in-demand career with a good, solid paycheck without mortgaging the next 30 years of their lives.
By slicing tuition nearly in half – 47% – for seven of its programs, NEIT is providing the opportunity for students to invest in their futures for the price of an affordable new car rather than the cost of an overpriced starter home.
The decision to slash the price of those programs now brings the cost of all of NEIT’s programs within the same range, giving students the chance to pick the program they want to pursue, rather than make a decision based on how much they can afford. This, hopefully, will go a long way toward producing the thousands of skilled workers Rhode Island will need to overcome a projected labor shortage in skilled trades in the years ahead.
Amy Grzybowski, NEIT’s vice president of community engagement and workforce development, has spent much of her career trying to improve the state’s labor-training efficacy, including transformational work in developing the Westerly Education Center. We are encouraged that people like her continue to be focused on creating a better pipeline for the skilled trades in Rhode Island.
With all of the tumult we have seen in public education over the last decade-plus, the rise of career and technical education programs has been a bright spot.
Seeing the enthusiasm that kids have for this type of training, and knowing of the availability of jobs once they graduate, gives renewed hope that things like homeownership are still possible for people entering the workforce today.
This does not mean that graduating from NEIT is a free ride to a good life, of course. Hard work is a prerequisite for these jobs, same as any other. But entering the workforce without a six-figure debt hanging over your head makes it easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and wake up ready and excited for work.