Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School's morning classes are filled to capacity.
Nazareth Area High School senior Garrett Newhartz already knows what career he wants.
Newhartz, 17, of Upper Nazareth Township, spent last year paid as a part-time machinist and inspector at two local production plants. This year, he's learning more in his third year as a student at the Career Institute of Technology in Forks Township.
"It's a better alternative than going straight to college -- it can almost guarantee you a well-paying job," Newhartz says about CIT. "I really like it because it gave me a chance to experience what I was going to do the rest of my life and whether I liked it or not. I decided yes, I want to stay in my trade and get better at it."
Newhartz isn't alone.
What had the reputation decades ago for training beauticians, welders and auto mechanics for entry-level jobs, vocational-technical schools now host programs designed to prepare students for careers and college.
New Jersey and Lehigh Valley vocational-technical schools estimate about half their graduates will go on to four-year colleges, universities or trade schools. The schools recruit students through their sending school districts, promoting successes and working to get their names out to the public.
At Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School, morning classes are filled to capacity with an estimated 750 students -- so many that school officials expect to be unable to accept out-of-area students as they've done in the past.
Hunterdon County Polytech anticipates the largest enrollment in its 18 years, says Superintendent Kim Metz.
The Lehigh Career and Technical Institute in North Whitehall Township has 200 more Lehigh County students than last year, says Sandra Himes, executive director. She expects that figure to keep growing.
"The job market has been tough," she says. "There's so many people coming out of college and they're not finding jobs in their fields and have a lot of college debt."
Williams attributes the surge to the rising costs of higher education combined with student debt and a competitive job market seeking more skilled workers.According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average price for undergraduate tuition, room and board was estimated to be $13,600 at public institutions, $36,300 at private not-for-profit institutions, and $23,500 at private for-profit institutions in 2010-11, the most recent data available.
"Employers today are looking for skills that employees can quickly contribute to the workplace," Williams says. "Our students learn the skills that will make them more valuable to an employer. And for many, their post-secondary education continues. Put all those together and it's like the perfect storm of why kids should come here."
View full sizeAllison Klaugh, a senior at Whitehall High School. places an X-Ray holder into the mouth of a practice mannequin in the Dental Technology Class at Lehigh Career and Technical Institute. Jump starting careers
Vo-tech administrators say their schools jump-start careers of youth who can't afford college right after high school.
The Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, CIT and the Bethlehem vo-tech partner with Lehigh Valley companies for high school juniors and seniors to be matched with paid positions and paid summer internships.
Schools also are offering more programs, from engineering to criminal justice to health care to computer systems and marketing.
In the next few years, Williams hopes to add 100 to 150 seats and two or three new programs at the Bethlehem vo-tech. He says there has been interest in adding a supply chain management and logistics program, as well as medical office training.
Hunterdon Polytech’s programs in the past five years have become “a lot more rigorous” to prepare students for both work and post-secondary studies, Metz says.
Polytech is one of the few career and technical schools in New Jersey that don't offer a full-time instruction, she says. She says the school may have to add space or build stronger partnerships with sending districts that could model full-time programs.
“Students must be college- and career-ready," Metz says. "They must be able to take responsibility for their own continuous learning to keep updated beyond high school and plan a career path were they can continue to acquire post-secondary credentials for gainful employment and to be competitive among the workforce."
Changing education
View full size Ian Mace, of Parkland High School, machines a wheel spacer on a vertical milling machine during precision machine tool technology Class at Lehigh Career Technical Institute. Ron Roth, director at CIT in Forks Township, says his school started as the Vocational-Technical School of Eastern Northampton County in 1965 on the campus of Easton Area High School. Five local school districts in 1969 went on to build the current school in Forks Township.
But by the 1990s, the school had evolved from teaching the skills for a particular job to preparing students for careers and college. Most of the school's 600 students gain jobs right out of high school and are using those jobs to help pay for college, Roth says. CIT also awards college scholarships from local organizations.
"It is a misconception that students who attend a technical high school do not go to college," Roth says. "Many do, and many career areas require that students have more education beyond our school's introductory programs."
The highest-paying jobs for CIT students include electricians, heating and air conditioning technicians, welders, machinists and auto mechanics. The most popular programs include the culinary arts, health technology, automotive technology and cosmetology, as well as computer systems networking.
Roth says employers are looking for specific entry level skills, related academic skills like trade-related math, and communication skills. They also want people with a basic understanding of science and professional or "soft skills," such as attendance, work ethic and teamwork.
"Today there is very little unskilled labor, and it does not pay well," he says.
Geta Vogel, assistant principal at Warren County Technical School, believes the job market always will be challenging.
“There are fewer jobs and they are competing with individuals who may have already begun second or third careers and now have families to support,” she says. “Career ladders may not exist in this work world the way they did in the late 20th century.”
Find more about how schools and companies will use technology to train students in the future.