Points to Ask Electrician Vocational Schools<\/strong><\/h3>\nOnce you have decided to earn a diploma, certificate or degree, you can start to refine your school options. Considering that there are numerous electrician trade and vocational schools in the Ketchikan AK region, it’s imperative to have a checklist of qualifications that each program must satisfy. The first two that we mentioned were location and the cost of tuition. If you are interested in earning an online degree, then that needs to be a feature that your final school offers. And even though all three qualifiers may be crucial when making your selection, there are other variables that need to be considered as well. Following is a checklist of those added qualifications that you will need to assess prior to choosing an electrical technical school.<\/p>\n
Accreditation. <\/strong>A large number of electrician technical schools have earned either a regional or a national accreditation. They may receive Institutional Accreditation, which involves the school’s programs as a whole, or Programmatic Accreditation, which pertains to a specific program, for instance electrical technology. Verify that the Ketchikan AK program is accredited by a U.S. Department of Education acknowledged accrediting organization, for example the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. In addition to helping ensure that you get a quality education, it can help in securing financial assistance or student loans, which are often unavailable for non-accredited programs. Furthermore, a number of states require that the electrician training program be accredited in order to qualify for licensing.<\/p>\nHigh Completion and Placement Rates. <\/strong>Ask the electrician schools you are reviewing what their completion rates are. The completion rate is the percentage or portion of students who enroll in and finish the program. A lower completion rate could indicate that students were dissatisfied with the course and dropped out. It might also mean that the instructors were not qualified to train the students. It’s similarly imperative that the schools have higher job placement rates. Older and\/or more reputable schools may have a more extensive directory of graduates, which can mean more contacts for the school to utilize for their apprenticeship and job placement programs. A high job placement rate can not only validate that the school has a good reputation within the trade, but additionally that it has the network of contacts to help Ketchikan AK graduates secure apprenticeships or jobs.<\/p>\nApprenticeship Programs. <\/strong>Numerous electrician technical programs are taught along with an apprenticeship or an internship program. Those participating trade and vocational schools will help place you in an apprenticeship program inside their network of electrical companies or trade unions. Find out if the schools you are considering have working relationships with Ketchikan AK area electricians or electrical specialists. An apprenticeship not only provides a rewarding experience by supplying practical training, but it also provides employment opportunities and helps to build relationships in the area electrician professional community.<\/p>\nModern Facilities. <\/strong>Confirm that the school facilities and the equipment that you will be trained on are state-of-the-art and what you will be working with on the job. If you are currently in an internship or an apprenticeship, talk to the electrical tech you are working with concerning what you should be looking for. If not, ask a local Ketchikan AK electrical contracting company if they can give you some pointers. Additionally bear in mind that unless you can move, the school must be within driving distance of your Ketchikan home. Take note that if you decide to enroll in an out-of-state school, besides the added relocation costs there may be higher tuition charges compared to in-state residents.<\/p>\nSmaller Classes. <\/strong>It’s desirable that you get as much personalized training as possible, which can be challenging in bigger classes. Ask if you can sit in on a few of the classes so that you can see how large they are and experience the interaction between instructors and students. Talk with a few of the students and get their comments regarding class sizes and instruction. Finally, talk to some of the instructors and find out what their level of experience is and what degrees or certifications they have earned.<\/p>\nFlexible Scheduling. <\/strong>Verify that the class schedules for the programs you are assessing are flexible enough to fulfill your needs. If you are only able to attend classes at night or on weekends near Ketchikan AK, verify that the programs you are looking at provide those options. If you can only attend on a part-time basis, be sure that the school you select permits part-time enrollment. Finally, check out what the policy is to make-up classes should you miss any because of work, sickness or family responsibilities.<\/p>\nConsidering Attending an Electrician School near Ketchikan AK?<\/h3>\n
Following is a little bit of background information about the Ketchikan AK area.<\/p>\n
Ketchikan, Alaska<\/h3>
Ketchikan (\/\u02c8k\u025bt\u0283\u026ak\u00e6n\/ KETCH-ih-kan;[8]Tlingit: Kichx\u0331\u00e1an) is a city[5][9] in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost city in Alaska. With a population at the 2010 census of 8,050,[5] it is the fifth-most populous city in the state, and tenth-most populous community when census-designated places are included. The surrounding borough, encompassing suburbs both north and south of the city along the Tongass Highway (most of which are commonly regarded as a part of Ketchikan, albeit not a part of the city itself), plus small rural settlements accessible mostly by water, registered a population of 13,477 in that same census.[10] Estimates put the 2014 population at 13,787 people.[11] Incorporated on August 25, 1900, Ketchikan is the earliest extant incorporated city in Alaska, because consolidation or unification elsewhere in Alaska resulted in dissolution of those communities' city governments. Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo Island, so named in 1793 by Captain George Vancouver.<\/p>
Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town, emptying into the Tongass Narrows a short distance southeast of its downtown. \"Ketchikan\" comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, Kitschk-hin, the meaning of which is unclear. It may mean \"the river belonging to Kitschk\"; other accounts claim it means \"Thundering Wings of an Eagle\".[12] In modern Tlingit this name is rendered as Kichx\u0331\u00e1an.[13] Ketchikan Creek served as a summer fish camp for Tlingit natives for untold years before the town was established by Mike Martin in 1885. The area near the mouth of Ketchikan Creek later earned Ketchikan a measure of infamy during the first half of the 20th century for a red-light district known as Creek Street, with brothels aligned on either side of the creek. According to the U.S. Postal Service, one of Ketchikan's two zip codes, 99950, is the highest-numbered in the United States.[14]<\/p>
Ketchikan's economy is based upon government services, tourism and commercial fishing. Civic boosters have dubbed the community the \"Salmon Capital of the World.\"[15] The Misty Fiords National Monument is one of the area's major attractions, and the Tongass National Forest has long been headquartered in Ketchikan, mostly in the city's historic Federal Building. For most of the latter half of the 20th century, a large portion of Ketchikan's economy and life centered on the Ketchikan Pulp Company pulp mill in nearby Ward Cove. The mill closed in 1997 in the wake of the passage of the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990, which reduced timber harvest targets in the national forest.[16]<\/p><\/div>\n