The Community College Career Track: How to Achieve the American Dream without a Mountain of Debt

The path to increasing numbers of today’s and tomorrow’s best jobs runs through the community colleges. In The Community College Career Track, Tom Snyder gives young people and their parents, as well as mid-life career changers, a practical, inspiring guide to taking that path and completing it successfully.

The old model of a bachelor’s degree leading to a good job and career has broken down for large numbers of young people. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the college graduates under 25 who have a job, 49 percent do not have a job that requires a bachelor’s degree. Meanwhile, millions of productive American white collar and blue collar workers have been laid off and need retraining for second careers.

The good news that Tom Snyder has to share is that millions of great jobs will be opening up in coming years in growth areas like advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, health care, information technology, and sustainable energy. At the same time, traditional trades increasingly require an ability to handle sophisticated technology, whether in automotive repair or in environmentally sustainable construction practices and building systems.

These jobs can pay as well as, or much better than, the average income for four-year college graduates. They generally offer high levels of day to day satisfaction. Many of them lead to significant levels of responsibility. And once again, the path to all of them begins in the community colleges.