Ryan Dutton has spent the past week exploring the auto shop. It’s part of the college’s new 100,000-square-foot Technical Education Center, which also includes the automotive collision & refinishing, and welding programs. Dutton’s an automotive student.
“Definitely more high end," he said. "The old shop was probably what I assume any normal shop would look like, everything's all dirty and used.”
The old shop was built in the 70s. It was crowded. Three service bays, no air conditioning. The new shop has over 20 bays and -- unlike a lot of shops students may work in after graduation -- it has AC.
Student interest in career and technical education programs like welding and automotive is surging across the United States. Community colleges like Waubonsee want to meet that demand.
Guy Tiberio is an associate professor of automotive technology. He says they designed this new space to be not just bigger but equipped in line with -- or a bit ahead of -- industry trends.
It’s why the space has an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) bay so students can calibrate cameras and sensors for modern features like self-driving and lane departure warning.
“We never had the space for the equipment to do those calibrations, and it's still something very new to the industry," said Tiberio. "A lot of shops don't even have that at this point. So, when we built this building, we designed a purpose-built space for those calibration machines.”
The new, larger space also means they could hire a new instructor and offer more classes to help students graduate sooner.
“There's no more waiting around for that one or two classes that you need," he said. "Before, you might wait two years for one class to come around, and that would obviously slow down student progress."
The automotive program is popular. They’ve been at capacity for years and had to turn students away. It’s also an in-demand career. Tiberio says the auto industry is plagued by workforce shortages. He says it's both because there are more cars on the road than ever, and also more people leaving the industry or retiring than coming in.
Ne'Keisha Stepney is Waubonsee’s assistant provost of workforce development. She says their auto collision courses also filled up in record time, and she was thrilled to see welding classes filling fast -- even after doubling capacity. Like with automotive, interest is aligning with need. The programs added over 100 new students compared to last fall.
“That let me know," said Stepney, "and it validated that we were headed in the right direction with choosing this to be one of the signature programs in this building."
The new center is a major investment. The construction cost $60 million. So, Stepney says, it’s why they host advisory meetings with local businesses.
“I think it's incumbent upon us as the community college," she said, "to look at what is needed in our district, in the region, and then create programming that aligns with that."
Stepney says that these career and technical education programs are a major growth area for community colleges as schools fight for enrollment. And it’s not just Waubonsee pouring money into career & tech programs. Other Illinois community colleges, like Spoon River, John A. Logan, Rock Valley and Elgin Community College, are all currently building new CTE centers.
But Stepney says it’s more of a collaboration than a competition.
“ECC (Elgin Community College) came and visited our facility to tour," she said. "When we were planning this building, we went to other community colleges to tour."
High school skilled trades programs are also growing, which is crucial since many of those pathways lead to community colleges. Nearly 140,000 Illinois high schoolers are considered CTE “concentrators” meaning they’ve completed multiple career & tech courses. That’s more than a 30% increase from two years ago.
So, when a high school in Waubonsee’s district built a new center a few years ago, Stepney says they were happy to be at the table.
“I wish that people understood," said Stepney, "that when you think about an HVAC technician, for example, how much chemistry and physics they need to actually understand in order to effectively do their jobs. These are high-tech areas that require high skill, that are high growth and high demand.”
Next year, students in short-term programs will qualify for federal Pell grants for the first time, which Stepney says will be another boon to technical education. And she says the new center still leaves them with room to grow, as both the need and interest in CTE increases.
