Earn While Your Learn

In the last post I discussed ways to find out more about preparing for a career through an apprenticeship program. What if your chosen field requires at least a four year degree and you need financial aid options? There are many sources that I will review in the first weeks of 2012. The option I would like to focus on in this post is Cooperative Education.

Cooperative Education, or Co-op, aims to integrate academic learning and practical work experience. In one Co-op model, the student alternates a semester of classes followed by a semester of paid employment. In a good Co-op program, a student not only earns money to pay for college costs, but gains invaluable work experience which can put them at the top of a prospective employer's list. Way back in the 90's I went to a conference where an executive from Prudential stated that his company considered participation in a Co-op program as a definite resume enhancer. Prudential actively sought employees from the pool of graduates who had that work experience as undergraduates.

The World Association of Cooperative Education has its headquarters at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Its membership includes national and international member institutions. Their website is www.waceinc.org. The National Commission of Cooperative Education (www.co-op.edu) and The Journal of Cooperative Education (www.ceiainc.org) are also good resources.

You can also go to an individual college/university website to find out about its program. Drexel University (www.drexel.edu), located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is reputed to have an excellent co-op program and a link to it is prominent in a tab on their homepage. I wanted to highlight another institution which also has a good co-op program. Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston is notable as a four year institution which awards degrees in many applied areas such as engineering and construction trades. It's worth investigating as well.

In the beginning of this post, I mentioned future discussions in 2012. What happened to the next five weeks of 2011? The Holidays! I hope you have happy ones and will resume blogging on Wednesday, January 4, 2012!

P.S. Speaking of the holidays, some gift ideas for the serious student on your list include books discussed in previous posts. A few are featured here: