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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Maybe it’s as simple as this: Brandie Jones wanted to fix cars.
Shakespeare knowest not how to fix cars. This is nothing of Sir William’s fault, but reason enough for Jones to turn her back on those more publicized four-year universities.
“With community colleges, everything is hands-on and you don’t have to pay for all those gibberish classes you’re not going to need,” Jones says.
Hamlet is good. Hamlet is great. Hamlet doesn’t get you fixing Chevrolets.
Jones is 26 now, doing the mechanics work she always hoped for. She spent 18 months taking classes at Southeast Community College’s campus in Milford from 1999 to 2000.
Her classes made for eight-hour days. Only one of those hours was dedicated to studying a subject not directly related to her field.
“That’s what I liked about it,” Jones says. “You spend the whole day working on something you’re actually going to do.”
Often dismissed and occasionally even slammed by some as a low-level educational experience, community colleges are proving to be just the right ticket for plenty of people.
And that ticket is a lot cheaper.
According to collegeboard.com, the going rate for a school year at a Nebraska community college is $2,023.
In comparison, that cost rises to $5,224 to attend an in-state four-year public school and $17,148 to study at a private school.
All tallied up, Jones’ college experience of several years cost her $9,000. That included dorm fare and her tools.
“I look at one of my best friends,” Jones says. “He’s still in school going to get his doctorate. I’ve been working for six years, and he’s going to be paying on his student loan for almost 10 years.”
When Jones finished at Southeast, she had her pick of mechanic jobs all over the country. She decided on Lincoln Trucking, a brokerage, warehouse and trucking company, and she still works there.
If she ever gets the urge to move to Los Angeles, Boise or wherever, a lifetime placement program at SCC assures she won’t be without a job.
“I can go to the placement office, say I’m looking for a job and they’ll say, ‘Oh, here you go,’” Jones says.
Jack Huck, president of SCC, has been associated with the college for 32 years now.
The perception of the community college is changing for the better, he says.
“There are more and more students who are saying, ‘Maybe I’m smarter to spend that first couple years paying attention to costs,’” Huck says.
SCC reaches about 27,000 students each year at its three campuses — in Lincoln, Milford and Beatrice — and at 26 community centers in 15 counties.
Besides lower prices, community colleges usually offer the benefit of smaller classes, with teachers giving more individual attention to students.
In Jones’ case, she had only four others in her class graduating with the same degree.
Her class had to be small. As Jones noted: “It’s not like they have 50 transmissions laying around that 50 kids can take apart.”
Those small classes are beginning to be filled by younger faces. Five years ago, Huck says, the average age of an SCC student was 29. Today it’s 27.
Students and parents are realizing, Huck says, that a whole lot of technically related jobs are going to be important in the future economy.
He suspects that job market is only going to open more for SCC graduates as baby boomers retire in those technical fields.
Things got even greener for SCC recently when it made a deal with John Deere. The school will now be training people to work all over the country at various dealerships.
Last year, 75 percent of students in technical programs at SCC went to work immediately after graduating, Huck says. Another 20 percent continued their education at a four-year school.
“What (students) have when they leave us now is something that’s really easy to move into a four-year degree,” Huck says. “That education is very transportable.”
Jenna Cunningham is a 21-year-old from Norfolk who recently attended community college.
She knows it sounds weird, but she always loved going to the dentist, so she thought she’d try the dental assisting program at SCC.
“I thought it’d be easier to go here than UNL, and it’s only a year,” Cunningham says. “You can see if you really want to do it. If not, you have enough time to go and do something else.”
She owed only $5,000 for her schooling. It’s paid off.
She wanted internships. She got them easily as part of her classes.
She wanted a job. She had her pick among a bunch of offices after she got her degree.
Cunningham knows there are people out there who like to razz the community college experience. She also knows this.
“I’m 21 and already done with college and have a full-time job I love already.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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