How to Find the Right Vocational School near Juneau Alaska

Choosing to enter into a new occupation and enroll in a trade school near Juneau AK are important decisions that will greatly influence your long term career. However with so many trade schools to select from, just how do you undertake identifying the right one? Not only do you need to ascertain that you will get the comprehensive training required to succeed in your new occupation, but also that the school is highly regarded and reputable. Some students make the error of selecting a trade school simply because the campus is closest to their home or where the work. Or they might be attracted to the one that charges the lowest tuition. Of course the location and cost of the programs are important considerations when evaluating trade school options, but they can not be the sole ones. Additional considerations including reputation and accreditation of the schools are critical also. So prior to beginning your evaluations and comparing trade schools, you must know what questions to ask in order to get the information to make a final choice. We will cover some of those questions later in this post. But to start with, let’s look at a few of the trade options that are available including the availability of online schools.

Trade School Training Options near Juneau AK

There are a number of trades to choose from in vocational schools that offer fulfilling and good paying careers. Possibly you have already selected one that you have long wished to pursue. For example, maybe you have always enjoyed working on your car and have considered utilizing that talent to earn a living as an auto mechanic. Or maybe a family member has had a prosperous career in a certain vocation or trade and you would like to follow in his or her footsteps. No matter what your motivation is for entering a trade, there is undoubtedly a program available that will provide the training that you need. Following is just a modest representation of the trade school programs that are offered in the Juneau AK area.

• Automotive Technician
• Heating and Cooling (HVAC) Tech
• Plumbing
• Electrician
• Welder
• Truck Driver
• Aircraft Maintenance Tech
• Lab Tech
• Construction Manager

Each of the programs will have differing costs and completion times based upon the trade, credential earned and school. A number of the programs may be completed in a few weeks, while others will call for months or even two or more years of instruction. Each of these factors must be considered prior to selecting a trade and a school.

Click Here to Get Free Information on Trade Schools Near You!

Trade Schools Online

Online schools have become more attractive with Juneau AK students and increasingly more accredited programs are being offered. While learning online is a readily available and practical way to acquire a certificate or degree, it might not be the ideal option for every vocation or trade. For example, training to operate a tractor trailer is not something that you can do online, nor is learning how to weld. These are skills that need to be learned through practical training and by doing it, not by studying or watching videos. But certain elements of the training may be suitable for online education, for example studying safety and driving guidelines for trucking schools or studying metallurgy or how to read blueprints for welding schools. A number of programs will combine online education with on-campus lab work, for example for electrician or welding schools. So it is very important to find out before choosing an online program for any vocation if there is an adequate amount of practical training allocated to the course of study. One means to help ensure that a trade school program is both suitable for online learning and delivers in-depth hands-on training is to check that it’s accredited by a nationally acknowledged accrediting organization (more on accreditation later). For those trades that are suitable for online training, it can be a convenient way for students with time constraints to learn a new profession.

Points to Ask Trade Schools

Once you have decided on the trade and type of degree or certificate that you would like to attain, either online or on campus, you can begin to narrow down your selection of schools. As you are no doubt aware, there are many technical schools in the  Juneau AK area and all over the USA to select from. That’s why it is very important to have a list of important qualifications when making school comparisons. As previously stated in our opening paragraph, tuition and location will undoubtedly be the first 2 aspects you will look at. Following are some additional ones that you will want to research before enrolling in your school of choice.

Accreditation.  A large number of Juneau AK area technical programs have acquired either a regional or a national accreditation. They may acquire Institutional Accreditation, which focuses on the school’s programs as a whole, or Programmatic Accreditation, which relates to an individual program, for example HVAC technology. Make sure that the program is accredited by a U.S. Department of Education acknowledged accrediting agency, which includes the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. In addition to helping ensure that you get a quality education, it can assist in acquiring financial aid or student loans, which are in many cases unavailable for non-accredited programs. Also, many states require that the  training program be accredited for it to be approved for licensing where applicable.

How Long in Business? One indicator to help evaluate the quality of a vocational school near Juneau AK is how long it has been in operation. A negatively reviewed or a fly by night school usually will not be in business very long, so longevity is a big plus. On the other hand, even the best of schools had to start from their first day of training, so use it as one of several qualifications.

 Completion Rates.  Ask the vocational schools you are considering what their completion rates are. The completion rate is the percentage or portion of students who enroll in and complete the course. A low completion rate could indicate that students were disappointed with the course and dropped out. It may also mean that the teachers were not qualified to train the students. It’s also imperative that the schools have higher job placement rates. Older and/or more reputable schools may have a more extensive directory of alumni, which can mean more contacts for the school to utilize for their apprenticeship and job placement programs. A high job placement rate can not only confirm that the school has an excellent reputation within the field, but additionally that it has the network of contacts to help graduates secure apprenticeships or jobs in the Juneau AK area.

Apprenticeship Programs.  Most technical programs are taught along with an internship or an apprenticeship program. Those participating vocational and technical schools will help place you in an apprenticeship program inside their network of businesses or trade unions. Ask if the schools you are reviewing have working relationships with Juneau AK area specialists in the trade. An apprenticeship not only offers a rewarding experience by providing practical training, but it also supplies job opportunities and helps to build relationships in the local professional community.

Modern Facilities.  Make sure that the school facilities and the equipment that you will be trained on are up-to-date and what you will be working with on the job. If you are already in an internship or an apprenticeship, talk to the specialist you are working under concerning what you should be looking for. If not, ask a local Juneau AK company if they can give you some suggestions. Also keep in mind that unless you can move, the school needs to be within driving distance of your residence. Remember that if you decide to attend an out-of-state school, in addition to relocation costs there can be increased tuition fees compared to in-state residents.

Smaller Classes.   It’s important that you get as much one-on-one training as possible, which can be difficult in bigger classes. Ask if you can monitor a few of the classes so that you can observe how large they are and experience the interaction between teachers and students. Talk to several of the students and get their opinions regarding class sizes and instruction. Finally, speak with a few of the instructors and find out what their level of experience is in Alaska and what degrees or certifications they have earned.

Flexible Scheduling.  Confirm that the class schedules for the programs you are reviewing are flexible enough to handle your needs. If you can only attend classes in the evening or on weekends near Juneau AK, verify that the programs you are reviewing provide those options. If you can only attend part-time, be sure that the school you select allows part-time enrollment. Finally, check out what the protocol is to make-up classes should you miss any due to work, illness or family emergencies.

Local Technical Schools Juneau Alaska

Finding the ideal trade school near Juneau AK is a critical first step toward a gratifying career in the vocation of your choice. As we have addressed in this post, you should select a trade school and a certificate or degree program that are both accredited and have outstanding reputations within the profession. Other things to search for are plenty of hands-on training and modern facilities. You need to go to each of the schools personally that you are most interested in to explore the campus and speak with both the current students and faculty. Attempt to get a feel for the quality of the training and the interaction between them. Also, inquire about scheduling choices and if night or weekend classes are available if needed. And don’t forget to ask about financial aid and student loan options too. You initially came to this website because of your interest in Local Technical Schools and wanting more information on the topic Live On Campus Trade Schools. However, if you ask the proper questions as we have detailed in our guidelines for assessing schools, you’ll be able to narrow down your choices so that you can make an informed decision. With the right training, hard work and commitment, you can eventually become a licensed professional in your chosen trade.

Other Alaska Hard Working Locations

 

Juneau, Alaska

The City and Borough of Juneau (/ˈdʒuːnoʊ/ JOO-noh; Tlingit: Dzánti K'ihéeni [ˈtsántʰì kʼìˈhíːnì]), commonly known as Juneau, is the capital city of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the second largest city in the United States by area. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of what was then the District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900.[3][4] The municipality unified on July 1, 1970, when the city of Juneau merged with the city of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current municipality,[5] which is larger by area than both Rhode Island and Delaware.

Downtown Juneau (58°18′07″N 134°25′11″W / 58.30194°N 134.41972°W / 58.30194; -134.41972) is nestled at the base of Mount Juneau and across the channel from Douglas Island. As of the 2010 census, the City and Borough had a population of 31,276. In 2018, the population estimate from the United States Census Bureau was 32,114, making it the second most populous city in Alaska after Anchorage.[2] Juneau experiences a daily influx of roughly 6,000 people from visiting cruise ships between the months of May and September.

The city is named after a gold prospector from Quebec, Joe Juneau, though the place was for a time called Rockwell and then Harrisburg (after Juneau's co-prospector, Richard Harris). The Tlingit name of the town is Dzántik'i Héeni ("Base of the Flounder's River," dzánti ‘flounder,’ –kʼi ‘base,’ héen ‘river’), and Auke Bay just north of Juneau proper is called Áak'w ("Little lake," áa ‘lake,’ -kʼ ‘diminutive’) in Tlingit. The Taku River, just south of Juneau, was named after the cold t'aakh wind, which occasionally blows down from the mountains.

 

Business Results 1 - 10 of 0