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The courses oered at North Central Texas College Alliance provide a pathway to jobs in need of employees. JOB OUTLOOK
More than 30 students are taking classes this fall, some coming from as far as Weatherford. ENROLLMENT
35W
114
24 students Industrial Mechatronics
7 students Allied Health Science
Clinical medical assistant $17.88 743,500 Number of jobs nationwide Medical billing and coding $21.75 416,400 Number of jobs nationwide Medical oce technician $18.01 1,354,700 Number of jobs nationwide Industrial mechatronics $29.69 111,500 Number of jobs nationwide
BLUE MOUND RD.
N
Median salary per hour
SOURCE: NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
into the eld in as little as eight weeks in some programs and no more than two years in others. With the TRUE grant there will be up to $2,500 per student available to cover the cost of the programs, according to the school’s press release. “If you are wanting to upskill or reskill, we try to remove as many boundaries as possible,” said Jake Laughlin, director of marketing and public relations. “It is an eort by the state to try to invest and help industries that were most aected by COVID-19. Historically, there are not as many skilled trade workers as the market needs. We are excited. This is a big investment and leap forward as a college to oer skilled trades in the Denton County area.” The Texas Legislature appropriated $15 million in TRUE grants during the 2021 session, with the funds coming from the American Rescue Plan Act. State Rep. Tan Parker, R, who rep- resents parts of Trophy Club, West- lake, Roanoke and Fort Worth, said Texas community colleges have more than 90% of the state’s workforce credentials. “The junior colleges and vocational schools in the state work to meet the needs of the business community to be able to create a certicate program that you could really receive a certi- cate at in less than six months,” Parker
Median salary per hour
North Central Texas College’s seventh campus, Alliance Training Center, opened Aug. 22.
Median salary per hour
North Central Texas College received over $2.4 million from the Texas Reskilling and Upskilling Education Grant. GRANT AMOUNTS
Engineering technology
Over $2.4M
Allied health science HVAC/Plumbing
Median salary per hour
$412,636
SOURCE: NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COLLEGE COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
$529,800
$1.462M
SOURCE: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
service area.” A college advisory board looked at locations for a training center in either Denton or the I-35W corridor area, and the Alliance area won out, according to Smith. Reasons for the campus, Smith said, included construction and growth in the area, the large manufacturing presence and the transportation hub near the Alliance area of Fort Worth. The seventh campus for NCTC, the Alliance location is not a full campus and is focused on industrial mecha- tronics and medical oce technology. The courses are designed to provide the education needed to get workers
we get going there, I think we’ll be ne,” said Smith, who works at the Gainesville campus and will teach at NCTC Alliance. Alliance location NCTC is covering the lease for a 25,000-square-foot building and the cost to nish out construction of the location at 3440 Hwy. 114. “NCTC has wanted to have a loca- tion in the western Denton County area for quite some time,” said Deb- bie Sharp, vice president of external aairs. “These grant funds allowed NCTC to respond to the training needs within the western Denton County
which were used to purchase equip- ment, curriculum development, tech- nology and instruction costs for a technical training center. NCTC has a grand opening and rib- bon-cutting ceremony set for Oct. 5, according to Smith. Ocials expect the facility to be operational by mid-October, just in time for the sec- ond eight-week slate of classes. The plan was initially to have everything ready for the third week of Septem- ber. When that change happened, the school switched to online only for the rst eight weeks. “Now, once we get there and once
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