News
Temple College received a $530,000 Texas Reskilling and Upskilling Through Education (TRUE) Grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Temple College has been awarded several TRUE grants recently to start up new programs designed to support individuals in the community with reskilling and upskilling and earning credentials to be prepared for higher wage careers. This is the latest grant focused on a growth in industry and manufacturing careers.
“We are so grateful to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board team for the state and federal funds that have been made available to allow colleges such as Temple College to invest in new equipment so that we can design new programs based on the growth and career availability in Central Texas,” said Dr. Christy Ponce, President of Temple College. “Our goal is to educate as many students as possible. We want students to learn on state-of-the-art equipment found at employer sites so they can be highly marketable and be prepared for the workplace as they earn credentials through Temple College.”
This funding will help Temple College prepare students for high-demand industry occupations. The equipment purchased through this TRUE grant will create new college training pathways at Temple College in both orbital welding and robotics welding.
The new Temple College programs will begin with short-term training that includes only 40 hours for each specialty area. A new certificate program is under development and will be available in 2023. The certifications lead into Temple College’s existing Electromechanical Engineering Technology certificate and degree programs, allowing students to advance their learning in various fields that lead to high-demand careers.
“We invite all regional high schools to send their welding students to Temple College after they learn welding skills at their home high school. This will be a perfect complement to the important skills that they learn in high school CTE programs and will allow students to continue their learning in higher education and earn college certificates,” said DeDe Griffith, Vice President of Workforce Development at Temple College.
“These programs will also be available for individuals in the community who are interested in learning a new craft or community members who may have existing welding skills but want to come to Temple College to advance their skills and learn a new specialization that will help them get into the workforce.”
Temple College is currently offering up to $1,500 for any student who enrolls at Temple College full-time (at least 12 hours) this Fall 2022. With this incredible grant opportunity and Temple College’s low costs and affordable tuition, this will help students fund their tuition this upcoming fall semester.
The new orbital welding and robotics welding programs will address affordability in several ways:
Allowing students to demonstrate their basic welding skills through several pathways rather than requiring pre-requisite coursework. This allows existing welding students coming from a high school CTE welding program or industry to lead into a college degree pathway. That flexibility could save students several thousand dollars and up to two years of time.
Choosing an in-demand occupation for which the workforce board has available scholarship funds and for which qualitied low-income and/ or displaced workers can also apply.
Making available additional scholarship dollars to support the first cohort of students. Local job market data shows that students can earn up to $40/an hour, according to Burning Glass data with orbital welding training.
For more information about this program and other workforce training programs contact the Workforce Division at Temple College at 254-298-8341 or visit templejc.edu.