The Blog

Eleni Papadakis, Executive Director, Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board Eleni Papadakis, Executive Director, Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board

05/19/10

If you are thinking of going to school for a better job or to boost your career, do your homework first to make sure you get a return on your investment of time and money.

Lifelong learning is the key to better pay, greater productivity and job contentment. But before taking on tuition payments, debt and major time commitments, you should verify if the training you seek will be in demand and result in higher earnings.

Increasingly, we hear stories of people who have gone back to school with the expectation of getting a better paying job only to be saddled with debt they cannot afford after they graduate.

Fortunately, Washington residents have a free online resource to help make wise decisions on where to go to school, what to study and how to pay for it.

CareerBridge.wa.gov provides detailed information on over 5,000 education and training programs—from one-year certificates to four-year degrees—at both public institutions and private career schools. Users can search by job title or career area and find training providers where they live.

They can also see the employment outlook and salary for each job title, and program demographics, including age, gender, ethnic background and education level. For many of the programs, they’ll also discover:

  • How many students graduated?

  • Did they get a job?

  • What did they earn?

Career Bridge’s “consumer reports” makes it easy to do your homework when planning your next educational decision.

The Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board advocates for Washington residents to get the education and training needed to obtain family-wage jobs. The agency is also responsible for managing the CareerBridge.wa.gov site and licensing private career schools.