What is a Technical Certificate?

  We spend a lot of time talking about college in high school. This term usually connotes continued education at a university or perhaps a community college. Here, we probably envision students working toward a bachelor's or associate's degree. However, I explain to the students I counsel that if they hear me use the word “college”, I might be referring to any continued education beyond high school, for simplicity’s sake. I do this, really, because I don’t want to exclude a student’s pursuit of a technical certificate which can be a very lucrative endeavor, so let’s discuss exactly what that is.

A technical certificate is not a traditional college degree. It likely doesn’t require that students take general education courses in classes that won’t directly relate to their program of study. Students in these types of programs often are not earning traditional credits either. Sure, they may need to take specific classes that meet at certain times like a traditional student but the takeaway from those is more geared towards experience, clock hours, or seat time than it is college credits.

This concept is really at the heart of what a technical certificate is. Instead of accumulating credits that build towards a degree or diploma, these students are cutting to the chase, so to speak. They are working towards gaining the know-how and experience that will lead them to being fully prepared for work in a given industry.

There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to what this means though. The “certificate” a student walks away with can be very different from one program to another and from one institution to another. Students in one place might be studying to take a written exam that certifies them at a state level to work in a particular field. Some students might end up needing to perform in front of some sort of review board that deems them qualified for a particular career. Other students will be seeking certification in a very specific area of study like an individual computer programming language. Or, some students will leave their program with something from their institution that implies that they completed a comprehensive program lasting a minimum time frame where they learned the ins and outs of a certain career field or industry.

Whatever the case, these programs are usually a lot shorter and often cheaper than traditional college (though traditional college financial aid should be available). Technical certificate programs usually provide training in areas where there is a high demand for workers, so program completers usually have little problem finding work. With that demand, comes competitive pay and these people can make a very comfortable life for themselves. They might not always have the same opportunities to improve their earnings and advance over the course of their lifetimes as traditional college graduates (though they might), but the format of traditional college just isn’t for everyone and technical certificates can be a great alternative.

How Grandparents Can Get Along With Their Teens

  In the past couple of weeks, I have had some conversations with grandparents who serve as the guardian for their teenager. There have been some wrinkles to smooth out (sorry for the pun) in their relationship with their teens and it’s had me thinking about how teens and older folks interact with one another when a generation gap exists. 

First, I have so much appreciation for a grandparent who steps up to take care of a young person when a parent can’t, which happens for many different reasons. It’s not an easy task nor is it one most people envision in the later years. More often than not, it happens with some suddenness which can make the transfer that much more complicated. 

I’m a believer in the concept that most of the disagreements we have with one another boil down to differences in expectations. We expect another person will or won’t take some action and when that doesn’t happen, there is conflict. So, my advice to grandparents is to take this to heart. You have to accept that teenagers are going to behave differently than their parents did in their teenage years and certainly differently than you did as a young person. 

Society changes as generations come and go. That brings behavioral changes and teens are very often the first people to adopt these behavioral changes. In a nutshell, teens are really who set the pace for society. Change is hard. It can be difficult to understand and, it can be scary, for lack of a better word. Change isn’t inherently bad though. In fact, often it’s good. It’s also inevitable and I would challenge grandparents to reflect on their behavioral changes during their teen years and how they were very different from what their grandparents were used to. I’m certain those existed.

If you can expect these differences, you’ll be in a better position to embrace them and understand them. Let’s look at how teens use their phones as an example. For someone who grew up without a phone, it might appear that teens have them glued to their hands. Well, they might as well be. That doesn’t mean though that a teen’s childhood is inferior to yours. It just means it's different. There are good things about phones, right? You probably have and use one now and there is a likelihood there are things you may do on your phone that bring you joy. There is no difference for your teenager, they just probably have more things on their phone that bring them joy. Rather than ridicule them for that, work to understand the aspects of their phone use that they enjoy. Play their games with them, watch their videos, read their memes, and listen to their music. It doesn’t have to be your taste, but expecting this difference in tastes and working to understand them can go a long way towards making up for that generational gap.

A Scholarship Treasure Hunt

  A topic I find parents, in particular, are extremely interested in is that of scholarships. Many are at least a little familiar with state-funded scholarships. Nearly everyone is aware that athletic scholarships exist, and the large merit-based scholarships that colleges and universities award are on the radar of most parents with high school students looking to head to college. Local scholarships also receive a fair amount of publicity in college-going circles.

There is one source of scholarships though that few people know about. In fact, despite their abundance, many go unawarded because no one applies for them. They can be a bit tedious to find and apply for, but for those willing to do the work, the payoff for this treasure hunt can be lucrative. I’m referring to the large number of endowed, departmental, and targeted scholarships that many colleges and universities offer.

Let’s begin with where to find these which will help me illustrate more about them. Each college and university takes a different approach to how they list and advertise these, but a college’s financial aid website is the best place to start looking. I’ll use the University of South Carolina’s site as an example. They have a tab for scholarships. Clicking on that opens another menu with several options including one called “departmental scholarships.” Clicking there opens a list three pages long of colleges, departments, and programs within the university. Each line there includes a link that says “View Scholarships Available” It’s not unusual for this treasure trove to be buried behind several clicks like it is at South Carolina.

So, let’s say I want to be a business major. I click on the “View Scholarships Available” for the College of Business (which I found on page 3 of those 3 pages) and that presents me with 187 scholarships available to University of South Carolina business majors. That’s a lot. 

Congratulations. You found the treasure, but the hard work is just beginning. Now you have to sort your way through all those scholarships and find the ones that might pertain to you. I see one that is just for residents of Chesterfield County, SC. There’s one for track and field athletes majoring in business. One is for PhD candidates in the Department of Finance. These and others have very narrow scopes. Others seem very scant on information and just invite students to call or email for more information. 

There are just many though that don’t seem too restrictive (as long as you’re a business major) and provide a good snapshot of who might be eligible. After identifying these, there is still work to be done in the application process which can span a wide array of complexity and work.

Because there are so many of these, some of these scholarships can go years without being awarded. However, if you’re willing to go on the treasure hunt and do what needs to be done to “get the treasure out of the ground” you can do fairly well applying for some of these awards.