September 10, 2012- ALBANY, GA from WALB- Albany Technical College President, Dr. Anthony Parker says the last year has been a successful one for the college, but they have some areas they need to work on.
And with tuition rising and enrollment dipping, they have some additional challenges ahead.
For years, students have chosen Albany Technical College because with the right hands on training, they're able to land a job fast.
"You can get the job you want as long as you got the education and take the time out to handle the things you got to do and take care of," said Deandre Parker, Albany Technical College Student.
Job placement rate is one of the school's strongest selling points, and it's gone up to 99 percent.
However in order to land that job you want, Dr. Parker says you have to be willing to invest a year or two to get where you want to be.
"It's about completing the enrollment process so enrollment becomes as robust as it once was, it's the cost of helping students go to school while our costs and tuition's are going up," said Dr. Anthony Parker, Albany Technical College President.
It's one of the areas Parker addressed at the annual State of the College Address where he updated folks on the schools progress.
Student retention, graduation rates, and percentage of job placements were up while GED graduates, and student enrollment went down
"I think some of the changes in financial aid and how it is administered and the slight increase in tuition and fees we've seen a slight decline in enrollment," said Anthony Parker.
Parker says enrollment declines time to time, but he's hopeful they can get it back up.
"We view our students not as a group but as individuals with circumstances," Anthony Parker.
Just last week, 13 percent increase he says the cost is still the least expensive. However, he plans to work with each student on a way to deal with those added costs.
"Some may have not participated in the student loan program before, some may have to seek part time jobs that they didn't want to find before some instead of going part time will go full time to get into the work force sooner," said Anthony Parker.
However, he hopes more students realize you can't put a price on education.
The school also rolled out a new concept at Albany tech called the Center for Business Solutions which will allow them to work partner with more businesses and increase training by offering more opportunities.
See the original story at WALB