Data shows that the booming automotive, diesel, collision and refinishing, and welding trade school is meeting industry need for skilled, workforce-ready technicians.
LARAMIE, Wyo., February 23, 2024 (Newswire.com)
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Just-released statistics from WyoTech, the leading automotive, diesel, collision, and welding trades school, show that its enrollment, graduation rate and job placement rates are rising – a sign of both the strength of the school’s programs and the demand for skilled industry technicians.
WyoTech has boomed since new owners, led by former president Jim Mathis, took over in 2018. Enrollment soared from just a handful of students, and the school invested in new facilities and programs aligned with market needs and developed in partnership with industry experts.
Over five years, the size of WyoTech’s graduating class has more than doubled, from 370 in 2017 to 804 in 2022. WyoTech managed that explosive growth and continued to produce qualified students, with its overall graduation rate improving from 76.2% in 2017 to 84% in 2022. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, WyoTech’s graduation rate now outpaces the average graduation rate of U.S. colleges overall (62.3%) and all individual college types: public four-year colleges (68%), private non-profit colleges (77.8%), private for-profit colleges (47.6%) and public two-year colleges (43.1%).
Even as WyoTech sent more graduates into the job market, the school maintained a strong job placement rate: About 76.8% of graduates landed jobs in 2022, up from 76.2% in 2017.
WyoTech officials say the growth in students and graduates proves that the school has built a reputation for producing the skilled, workforce-ready technicians employers want.
“WyoTech’s rising graduation rates with steady job placements shows the effects of our rigorous training and our professionalism code,” said Kyle Morris, president of WyoTech. “Our students attend class for eight hours a day, five days a week, with over 50% of that time spent doing hands-on training in our shops. The men are required to be clean-shaven, the women required to have their hair pulled up off their collar, and all are required to wear a work uniform. The rising graduation rates show our students’ dedication and passion for the trades, as well as our instructors’ determination and commitment to helping our students prepare and succeed in their goals for their careers.”
WyoTech’s job placement statistics also demonstrate the trade industry’s strong need for trained technicians, as the current generation of experienced trade workers is retiring without enough technicians to take their places.
“The steady job placements show us not only the high standards of the professionals we train but also that the number of students that we’re producing only scratches the surface of the demand in the industry for the next generation of technicians,” Morris said. “We will continue to strive towards our vision of the best training, the best experience, and the best outcomes, in order to support our students and meet the demand in the industry for disciplined, experienced techs.”
For more information, visit wyotech.edu.
About WyoTech
WyoTech, formerly known as Wyoming Technical Institute, is a for-profit technical college founded in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1966. WyoTech provides training programs that prepare students for careers as technicians in the automotive, collision and refinishing, and diesel industry with nine-month training programs that focus on hands-on experience and has recently established a top-tier, six-month welding and fabrication program.
Source: WyoTech
