Scholarships for Laid-Off Workers

[Xue Sheng]

Scholarships for Laid-Off Workers

Posted February 2, 2009
A small but growing number of government agencies and colleges are rushing to help laid-off workers afford retraining and college courses by offering them free or greatly discounted tuition.

 

[arnisador]

Funding 2-year degrees and other training can easily pay for itself in keeping people off unemployment/welfare/etc., I'd say! Cheap and effective.

 

[Gordon Nore]

I think it makes good sense. Students and workers have been told for years, 'You'll change careers X times in your life and have to go back and retrain.' Problem is, someone who's just been laid off can't manage rent/mortgage, bills, savings and magically produce a retraining fund.

I used to teach in the community college system in Ontario several years ago. I had lots of seasoned workers as students who were trying to get back in the game. The challenge, as I saw it, was that the college system was stuck in the days of 2-3 year programs, which are fine for people just coming out of high school, but Hell for mature students.

For post-secondary institutions to effectively retrain adult workers, I believe we're going to need a host of strategies to help people re-enter the workplace quickly.