Thinking About A New Career?

College is not just for young people anymore as the American workforce will have to be retrained for the jobs of the future.

The CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta said Wednesday it's likely that many of the jobs lost during this recession won't come back, so people will have to go to school to find work.

Various studies by education groups and the U.S. Department of Education show community college enrollment is booming, growing from 10% to 20% a year. A lot of the growth is the result of people starting new careers.

Dennis Lockhart, the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said "in my view it is unlikely that we will see a return of jobs lost in certain sectors."

Lockhart told the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce Wednesday most people who lost their jobs will have to learn new skills and community colleges are meeting the challenge with phenomenal spikes in enrollment.

"Roughly four times the growth rate of enrollment in public and private four-year institutions," Lockhart said.

That's why there's so much new construction on the campus of Chattanooga State Technical Community College.

"You look back to three years ago, we began to see an uptick and it's grown each year," Jeff Olingy said.

Olingy is Chatt State's Vice President of Economic and Community Development. He said the college expects enrollment to be up by double-digits this year once final enrollment numbers are in next month.

A lot of that growth can be attributed to people like Melissa Lynn, who is starting a new career.

"I had wanted to get into nursing," Lynn said. "I knew that was a profession that's booming, I kept hearing that over and over again, so I decided to go back to school in my 40's and it's scary."

Olingy said "our average age has increased over the last decade, I think the average student age at Chatt State is 28 years old."

Lynn is among people of all ages attending an orientation meeting Thursday for new nursing students. They know they'll find a job after graduating because the healthcare industry will continue to grow more than most others.

So if you have been thinking about a career change and going back to school but are intimidated by sitting in a classroom with younger people, Mrs. Lynn said don't be afraid. 

"They're so encouraging too, you know, there's nothing about my age and they're like, OK, that's fine there's a lot of people your age coming back so I was very encouraged by them," Lynn added.

Community colleges offer degrees, certifications and courses for less money than four-year universities so that's another attraction for people who lost jobs or want bigger paychecks.

"The most important investment a person can make is in themselves and it's their education," Olingy said. "We're a lifelong-learning society now."

Olingy said healthcare and engineering technologies are the top fields in demand now, not just in the job market but for people enrolling at Chattanooga State.

The Workforce Alliance reports the federal government has recognized the need to fund community and technical colleges and has budgeted about $24-billion of federal stimulus money for training and education.