Christian Couric is living proof that short-term, career-focused educational programs—provided they are high-quality courses for in-demand fields—can put workers on track to high-paying jobs. Most of these programs don’t, however, qualify for federal financial aid through the Pell Grant program, putting them out of reach for workers who are low-income or unemployed. 

The three courses Couric took at Blue Ridge Community College cost about $5,600, including $1,998 for a welding fundamentals class and about $3,700 for two courses in pipe welding. Although Virginia offers a workforce training grant program that can pick up two-thirds of the tuition, BRCC President John Downey says many students in his corner of rural north-central Virginia still can’t afford to enroll. 

Photo: John Thomas Muyumba

Getting to college, we’re often told, requires smarts and determination. But that’s not the whole truth. What’s true in Kenya is true in China, the United States, and everywhere else: The admissions realm is divided between insiders and outsiders, applicants who understand the rules and applicants who don’t even know the rules exist.

For refugees, the most vulnerable students of all, the barriers are immense. Fewer than 30 come to the United States on an F-1 student visa each year. To get there, they must overcome complex systems that in many ways work against them.

As the pandemic continues to shift the American job landscape, the Maine Community College System will launch a free training program called Remote Work for ME to prepare more than 700 rural students for remote jobs over the next three years.

Students living in rural areas of the state will be able to take six- to nine-month-long online courses in fields especially conducive to remote work, such as IT support, customer service, and medical transcription. Participants will receive training and earn a certificate in remote work skills. The program also includes a certificate course for supervisors on how to manage remote workers.