Preparing for the job shuffle
Oregon has suffered serious hits to its economy over the past few years with the decline of the timber industry, the shock of the "dot-com" bust to the state's huge technology sector and more than 10 percent unemployment since the 2007 to 2008 housing sector collapse. The need for retraining in these turbulent times has led to an increased demand for adult vocational education.
Community Colleges
Oregon has a state system of community and technical colleges. Oregon's Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development site lists 17 community colleges, with direct links to each college's website. Resident tuition applies not only to Oregonians, but to legal residents (not citizens) of Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada and Washington. Resident tuition as of 2011 is $76 per credit; and nonresident tuition is $204 per credit.
Franchise Trade Schools
Oregon hosts a long list of commercial franchise trade colleges. Multistate commercial franchise colleges with campuses in Oregon include the University of Phoenix, Anthem College, Everest College, Heald College, Carrington College, Health Career Institute (HCI), ITT Technical Institute and Sanford-Brown College. These schools provide training in very job-specific skills and offer placement assistance, but their course work is seldom transferable to colleges and universities offering degree programs. Five of them --- Everest, Heald, Carrington, ITT and Sanford-Brown --- are located in Portland. Phoenix is in Clackamas, Anthem is in Beaverton and HCI is in Wilsonville. Prices vary, and they can be debt makers.
Specialty Schools
Oregon has a number of private specialty schools. Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts is a multi-state franchise that specializes, obviously, in culinary arts. Coos Bay hosts the Oregon Coast Culinary Institute, and the Oregon Culinary Institute is in Portland. Also in Portland is the Marinello School of Beauty (also a franchise), which offers cosmetology, and The Art Institute of Portland, which offers courses in apparel design. The RWM Vocational Schools Database is very useful in matching schools, by state, with occupational specialties.
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon system is a good bet for degreed technical specialties, in particular the School of Architecture and Allied Arts and the Lundquist College of Business. The School of Architecture and Allied Arts has degree programs in architecture, landscape architecture and practical art. The Lundquist College of Business offers degrees in management, finance and marketing.
Tags: Allied Arts, Architecture Allied, Architecture Allied Arts, College Business, colleges with, commercial franchise, Culinary Institute