Preparing for a new job in a new economy
It’s not hard to find someone who’s out of work, with 200,000 Minnesotans unemployed. Two-year colleges have seen an uptick in enrollment driven by a sour economy, while enrollment at private institutions has remained stable. Nonetheless, Minnesota's Private Colleges are playing a role in helping people get back on their feet — or stay on them. We share examples from three of our member institutions.
Adult students at Bethel University
Josh Loy, 32, was laid off from a manufacturing job last April. “I had no interviews for five months and was very stressed out,” he said. Thankfully, he had seen the writing on the wall and was enrolled in a business management program at the College of St. Scholastica’s St. Cloud location. Loy graduated with a B.A. degree in December and said he can’t express how much his professors and advisors helped him. “Several wrote letters of recommendation, others were my venting avenues; they gave me the whole nine yards.”
Loy liked interacting with other adult students and discovered that they were all very purposeful about their education. “Everyone did the work and it drove me to be more successful,” he said.
Loy recently landed a job working as a youth counselor at St. Cloud Children’s Home. He plans to enter a graduate program in management in the near future, “It will probably be at St. Scholastica,” he said.
A delayed impact on privates?
Don Wortham, who directs St. Scholastica’s extended studies program in five Minnesota communities, said that he expects an increase in the college’s enrollment further down the road, when students coming out of two-year programs move to baccalaureate institutions to complete their degrees.
St. Scholastica offers extended learning in St. Paul, St. Cloud, Brainerd, and Rochester, as well as through Duluth evening programs and online programs. There's a foundation of liberal arts and experience that supports students in their current or desired careers, Wortham said. “It's been said that St. Scholastica's brand of learning is ‘liberal arts with its sleeves rolled up.’ We believe that having physical locations is what serves students best; we are a local option that offers students a lot of flexibility.”
Increasing the options
Julie Sipma also attends St. Scholastica, after having been laid off twice in the past 16 months from large health care companies. “They made a business decision to re-structure and I got caught in it,” she said.
Sipma has a business degree and an LPN license, but she recently enrolled in St. Scholastica’s graduate program in management. She attends class one night a week and has been impressed by what she’s seen. “What’s really cool is the diversity of ages, genders and people from all different professions. The program is very versatile and gives me more flexibility in what direction I can go,” she said.
Although Sipma has always worked in health care, she’s open to pursuing a different career. “Life is a journey; I just keep moving forward.”
Picking up the pace
At St. Catherine University, many programs serving adults were already in place, according to Greg Steenson, associate dean for admission and market development at the institution. The main reasons adult students enroll at the school is because they want a new career or want to move to the next level in their current career, he said.
“What’s different is that we’re seeing more students speeding up their degrees; they think that finishing their degree will make them more secure.” Steenson has also noticed that students are more concerned with outcomes. “They want a clear sense of what the degree will lead to and if it will be worth it; they are looking at financial aid and crunching numbers,” he said.
Steenson noted that he’s seeing more interest in undergraduate health care, social work and teaching programs. At the graduate level, interest has picked up in organizational leadership and accounting areas. “Attendance has been huge at our graduate program information sessions,” he said.
Seeking more security
Mariah Hendrickson, 31, is pursuing an associate’s degree in Health Information Management at St. Kate’s and hopes to eventually complete the four-year program as well. She had a scare in June when the newspaper company she works for threatened to eliminate her department. “They’ve given us another year to meet our advertising goals,” she said.
Although Hendrickson has a partially completed education degree, she felt that the health care field would offer more security in this economy. She looked at technical colleges but wasn’t happy with the attention the advisers gave her. That’s when she called St. Kate’s. “I talked to an admissions counselor at the Minneapolis campus and she was amazing.” Hendrickson needed someone to listen to her and understand her situation. “She put me on the right path,” she said.
Hendrickson has two children ages 8 and 7. They are her motivation, as she wants to ensure she can support them. “I don’t have a choice; I have to do it in two years,” she said.
Using career center resources
At Bethel University, the career center has experienced a noticeable increase over the past year in alumni seeking services related to job change or job loss, director Kathy Scholljegerdes said. In response, the center has made sure its Web site is more customer-friendly and added software that lets alums tap into national job postings. Scholljegerdes said that her office has also trained its career counselors to better serve the needs of mid-career alums and those with more complex needs. “We encourage alums to use our career counseling — it can give them direction and help with their job search strategy.”
Tim Roach, 56, is one Bethel alum who took advantage of the career center’s services. He has a master’s degree from Bethel and recently lost his job after 21 years at Deluxe Corporation, due to downsizing. He had designed training programs and curricula for a call center at the company.
Roach visited Bethel’s career center and on their advice took the Strong Interest Inventory, an assessment tool that helps identify jobs that fit an individual’s interests and personality. “I was doing lots of writing and creating in my job. The inventory actually reinforced that the job I had was a good fit for me,” he said. Roach is now looking for a similar position. “I’ve been following several leads and I’m working hard at the job search with a lot of support from my career counselor.”