Career colleges offer quicker job path for some

Vantage College closure marks third career college closure in 4 months in SA

SAN ANTONIO – Vantage College’s abrupt closure Thursday marked the third for-profit career college closure in the last four months in the San Antonio area.

A few of the students have already started looking into continuing their education, with some reaching out to Concorde College, which focuses on health care professions.

“A few have already come over, and we show them the school,” said Eddie Kreiner, campus president.

Concorde, like Vantage, offers programs between eight and 18 months. Traditional four-year universities and community colleges have begun to tailor similar programs to similar timelines.

“We are striving to, in some ways, be more competitive like they are, which is to give students a real sequence of courses so they have a plan and to accelerate their opportunity to get through the classes,” said Dr. Jo-Carol Fabianke, vice chancellor for academic success for Alamo Colleges.

The biggest difference, besides program length, is often cost. A full year, which is 30 semester hours, at Alamo Colleges would run a little over $5,000 for tuition and books. Several programs at career colleges are often $15,000 or more.

Concorde’s dental hygienist program is more than $50,000, but it allows students to enter the workforce nearly two years earlier than its counterparts.

“They could go to a traditional school and get a four-year degree as a dental hygienist or come here for about 18, 19 months, about a year and a half, and kind of get the same thing,” Kreiner said.