Careers: Robotics

Since he took office, President Obama has been pushing to raise the community college graduation rate to answer our sluggish workforce and economy. A recent study on the earnings of college graduates proves that the president might be right on track – at least in Florida. The study, reported in the Miami Herald, shows that community college graduates tend to earn a higher average salary after school than students graduating from state universities.

What the Numbers Show

According to figures that were included in a report to the Florida State Board of Education Meeting held in December, community college graduates who earned associate in science degrees from Florida community colleges earned an average annual salary of $47,708 right out of school. By the same token, students who graduated from one of the state's 11 public universities earned an average annual salary of just $36,552. The difference, around $11,000 per year, is not insignificant for those just starting out in the professional world, particularly those who might be graduating with a decent amount of student debt.

Graduates of vocational programs offered through community colleges also seemed to do well after graduation, with much less time invested upfront. According to a report at Community College Spotlight, students who graduated from programs that took six months or less to complete earned an average annual salary of $37 356. Those who completed certificate training in a specific industry earned an average $39,108 per

Social media and social mores have once again collided in a Midwestern controversy involving a community college and four of its nursing students. A lawsuit was filed in Kansas last week by one of the nursing students, Doyle Byrnes, charging that Johnson County Community College dismissed her without due process after she posted photographs of herself with a human placenta on her Facebook page. The college said the students behaved unprofessionally, and the school's decision to dismiss them as appropriate under the circumstances. We will take a look at both sides of the controversy in this article.

How it Happened

According to a report on Inside Higher Ed, the nursing students from the college took a trip to nearby Olathe Medical Center in November. The purpose of the trip was to learn about the functions of the placenta, the organ that supplies life-sustaining nutrients to a growing fetus inside the womb. The medical center provided a donated human placenta as an example for the lesson.

During the lesson, Byrnes and three of her classmates asked the community college instructor, Amber Delphia, if they could take photographs of the placenta in question. According to a report at the Courthouse News Service, Byrnes also told Delphia she intended to post the photographs on Facebook. Byrnes said that Delphia allowed them to take the pictures, after ensuring no indentifying information about the patient would be included in the photos. When Byrnes told her about the

Community colleges have always been safe havens where struggling students can bring themselves up to academic par before transferring to a four-year university. In some cases, this might mean repeating a course a number of times before getting the required grade to advance to the next level. However, budget constrictions are impacting repeat classes for students across the country, with some left wondering how they will complete their community college program. We will take a look at both sides of this issue to find out how institutions are struggling to balance their commitment to student achievement with their bottom line.

This video explains what to do when you fail a class.

California Setting Limits

California is one of the first to look into setting limits on repeat courses at community colleges across the state. According to a report at Inside Higher Ed, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office is looking into the feasibility of limiting the number of times students can repeat courses within their college system. Currently, a small number of California community college students may repeat a class as many as five times or more during their college career.

A spokesman for the chancellor's office, Terri Carbaugh, told Inside Higher Ed that the office was looking into the feasibility of a regulation limiting the number of times students can retake courses to save taxpayer dollars. The office would

Firefighting has traditionally been a career that trains applicants on the job, once they pass basic physical and mental testing. However, as the career field becomes more competitive, more and more fire departments are looking for applicants with some sort of post-secondary training – even an associate's degree in fire science. Community colleges are quickly rising to answer the call, providing state-of-the-art training facilities to prepare new firefighters for the rigors and diversity of the job.

About the Firefighting Profession

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job of a firefighter involves hazardous conditions and long, irregular hours. Despite the demands of the job, this industry is expected to see keen competition for available jobs, since many qualified applicants are interested in becoming firefighters. In addition to rigorous training which applicants must undergo, physical and medical exams must also be passed to ensure applicants are healthy enough for the job. Ongoing training is a must in this industry, as new fire fighting and first aid techniques are developed all the time.

Because many senior firefighters are nearing retirement age, younger workers are being asked to take on leadership roles within many departments. To prepare these new firefighters for their positions, departments are teaming up with some community colleges across the country to provide the highest quality of training possible. We have examples of just a few of these programs going on around the nation.

Mesa Offers Virtual Emergency Training

An article in the