What Can I Study at Community College: Job Projections and Median Earnings

Community colleges are great places to start the next phase of your education because they offer so many options, both in courses of study and paths to achieve your goals.

Just look at any community college catalog or at the programs listed at the college's Web site. You'll find a wide choice of subjects to study, from accounting to computer technology, to nursing, to automotive mechanics, to personal finances. Remember that community colleges are geared to responding to the needs of the local and national economies, so you'll find coursework related to filling jobs in areas of high demand. Obviously, not every course of study is available at every community college, but you should be able to find a program that suits your needs and interests.

According to a recent study by the American Association of Community Colleges, the top five fields of study, or "hot" programs where community college graduates are in high demand, are:

• allied health such as registered nursing, licensed practical nursing, and radiologic technology.
• information technologies such as computer technologies, networking, and graphic design.
• industrial skilled trades such as automotive technology, construction, welding, and trucking.
• business such as general business, paralegal studies, and accounting.
• public services such as law enforcement, emergency medical services, and homeland security.

Community colleges are flexible and responsive to local and national needs so they can add programs to meet new concerns, such as homeland security, and can discontinue those with low enrollment or declining demand from business and industry. You'll want to remember this as you begin your studies.

As you begin to think about what you want to study, consider some of the projections from the U.S. Department of Labor for the years 2004 until 2014.

Computer and healthcare occupations are expected to grow the fastest"that is, they will have the largest percentage of change in the number of available jobs; they will also add 1.8 million jobs during this time. When you look at the educational and training requirements for the occupations that will adding the most new jobs, here's what is expected:

Postsecondary Vocational Award

• Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants
• Pre-school teachers, except special education
• Automotive service technicians and mechanics
• Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses
• Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists