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Vocational schools report uptick in interest as traditional college gets pricier (NJ Spotlight News)

September 9, 2022

Donald M Payne Sr School

Click here for a video on NJ Spotlight news highlighting the increased interest in county vocational-technical schools among both parents and students.

It appears education for skilled trades is making a comeback among high school students. Vocational schools report they are seeing an uptick in demand. It’s an appealing alternative to the four-year college experience that’s left too many saddled with burdensome debt and few, low-paying career prospects.

“A lot of people think we are old trade schools, and we are far from that. We do offer a host of AP courses… We have an honors program and various academic programs; I would go up against a comprehensive high school any day as far as our academics.” said Mr. Eric Love, principal, of Essex County Donald M. Payne Senior School of Technology.

Watch the video to accompany this story, which originally appeared on NJ Spotlight News Sept. 8, 2022.

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New Jersey is upgrading and expanding vo-tech high schools (WHYY)

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The Burlington County Institute of Technology in Medford recently unveiled its renovated welding and heating, ventilation and cooling system shops, and a new video game design lab. About 17 miles down the road, the Camden County Technical School’s Pennsauken Campus expanded its culinary arts program. These are just two projects across the state that have benefitted from a 2018 bond measure that appropriated $275 million to expand county vocational schools and their programs.

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When 17-year-old Eric Mora Jimenez arrived in the United States in 2016 from his native Dominican Republic, he spoke little English and enrolled in a fourth-grade ESL course in the Camden City School District. Jimenez, who still lives in the city, will graduate in June with a 4.0 grade-point average at the Gloucester Township campus of Camden County Technical Schools and pick up an associate’s degree he earned at Camden County College while in high school.

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