An interest in car racing put Dan Martin on the fast track to a well-paying job.
After graduating from Kearney High School in 2005, Martin enrolled in the automotive technology program at Metropolitan Community College-Longview.
“I have a race car, and that’s what got me interested,” Martin said.
Last month Martin, 20, graduated from Longview with an associate degree and a full-time job as a Ford master technician at Gary Crossley Ford in Kansas City, North.
Nationwide, technicians typically earn from $30,000 to $50,000 annually. As skill levels and experience increase, income can rise to $70,000 and more a year.
At Longview, Martin attended eight weeks of classes from 7:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and worked at the dealership on Saturdays. He then spent the next 10 weeks on the job.
“I paid for second semester with the money I made at work,” Martin said.
To earn the two-year degree, Martin completed 64 credit hours that included automotive classes as well as courses in writing, math, speech and other general education subjects.
Community colleges throughout the Kansas City area offer career and technical tracks for students wanting a degree that equips them with skills for immediate employment.
Two-year associate degrees in vocationally oriented programs often meet the needs of employers looking for applicants with a solid education and specific skills. Likewise, an associate degree can meet the needs of students eager to be career-ready in two years.
Some of the other popular vocationally oriented degree programs are mortuary science at Kansas City Kansas Community College, the certified nurse aide program at Donnelly College, dental hygiene at Johnson County Community College and veterinary technology at Metropolitan Community College-Maple Woods.
In 2000, about 60 percent of the associate degrees awarded nationwide — more than 246,000 — were career track degrees, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Even students who hold a baccalaureate degree are returning to earn associate degrees to prepare for another career.
Kari Kloewer, 31, graduated from the occupational therapy assistant program at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley in May 2006 — seven years after she earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Iowa State University in 1999.
“I was 30 hours away from my bachelor’s degree when I decided I wanted to be in the field of occupational therapy,” she said.
Kloewer came to Kansas City where she held an administrative position for five years until she was laid off. Two years after she enrolled at Penn Valley, Kloewer was hired at Mid-America Rehabilitation Hospital in Overland Park, where she had completed a clinical internship as part of her degree requirements.
The average salary for graduates in Penn Valley’s 2006 occupational therapy assistant class was $42,640 a year— $10,000 more than the average salary of the 2005 class, said Melanie M. Bowman, coordinator of student employment services.
Occupational therapy assistant is the 18th-fastest-growing occupation listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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