Apprentice programs rewired

OREM — For folks whose idea of hard work involves diesel mechanics, electrical construction or high-voltage power lines, changes in the way they are trained for these jobs are under way.

For the past year Mountainlands Applied Technology Center has been offering the 10 or so apprenticeship programs that have been historically offered at Utah Valley State College, which is ramping up to become a university.

While the MATC program has not supplanted apprenticeship training at UVSC, it is anticipated that it could; and the soon-to-be university hopes to offer a new associate's degree for people who want to transfer MATC credit and job experience to UVSC for a diploma.

It may sound like UVSC is abandoning its tradition as a trades and technical training school. Officials on campus insist they are not.

The changes are the result of enrollment trends, they say.

"We would be giving up on them if we didn't worry about it and (the trades and tech education) went away," said Ernie Carey, the dean of the School of Technology and Computing.

UVSC apprenticeship students typically work in their industries during the day and take courses at night. When they graduate, their diplomas state they've earned an associate in applied science in apprenticeship degree, with emphases in the various fields.

But many students were only taking enough classes for licenses or journeyman exams, dropping out of UVSC before graduation.

When enrollments in the later part of the program drop to two or three students, the program becomes expensive to offer, Carey said.

UVSC officials visited with local employers, asking whether employees should have associate's degrees. Many said associate's degrees are unnecessary, Carey said.

Last year, MATC, a part of the Utah College of Applied Technology, began offering apprenticeship programs.

MATC apprenticeship students will not finish with an associate's degree. Instead, they get a certificate. But they save money in tuition.

MATC's apprenticeship programs cost $250 a semester. UVSC's cost $387 a semester.

"It's a partnership deal, so the students all attend the same class," said Lori Stewart, MATC's apprenticeship programs manager. "There's UVSC students and there's MATC students. It's the same class, the same curriculum and the same instructors. It's different avenues to register."