Buoyed by stimulus money, clean-energy programs at community colleges have seen tremendous rises in enrollment.  College officials say that the spike anticipates the trend of an economy increasingly moving to renewable energy-based jobs.

The New York Times – Clean-Energy Programs Booming at Community Colleges

Nationally, community college enrollments have been ticking upward during the economic slump, as schools and workers look to invest their time and money where the jobs might be. “Though community colleges are not the only avenue for training workers in alternative energy, they can turn around [factory] workers very quickly — sometimes in just a couple semesters with a certificate program,” [said George Berghorn, who oversees Lansing Community College's environment, design and building technologies department].

The jobs are out there for alternative energy graduates, Berghorn noted, saying he is not surprised students are flocking to his program. Though Lansing does not have formal numbers, he says that in the last couple of semesters, “close to 100 percent” of his sector’s graduates have been able to find work, primarily doing consulting and auditing work in energy efficiency and analysis.

Though community colleges work differently in different regions, the reasons for the growth in this area are closely aligned, advocates say: a response to local need, industry partnerships that steer their decisions and an eye on the future job openings down the line. Federal funding from the stimulus act and other pre-existing governmental grants did not hurt, either.
Despite the fact that some junior colleges had cultivated plans to expand their alternative energy programs for several years, Oakland professor Rowe, who is also president of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, points to policy moves such as allocating American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds toward green job training and renewing federal tax credits for renewable energy last year as growth motivators.

Financial lifelines for green-job training are sprinkled through various programs created by the stimulus, which earmarked more than $80 billion for clean energy. The Department of Labor has oversight of about $500 million of the pot for green job training, and community colleges can apply for some of those funds, often as partners with other organizations or with their state, the department said. Still other federal stimulus dollars are available for training individuals to work on smart grids or weatherization programs.

The Department of Labor announced this week that it had awarded $55 million of its green job training funds. Utah’s Salt Lake Community College secured more than $96,000 to shore up its alternative energy offerings and create new certificate programs, and more than a dozen other community colleges tapped some of the $55 million through partnerships with their state or other organizations.

“You see much more interest from private businesses, innovators and banks,”

Hendricks said. “People know that an economy led by innovation and energy is coming.”

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