Ten years ago, Carlos Marquez started as a day laborer at Live Oak Farms in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Now, he’s the farm’s operations manager and a full-time student at Merced College.
Marquez is in a pilot program funded by a federal grant. In the competency-based curriculum offered to students for free, Marquez and his cohort master vocational skills within the field of agriculture. Others areas include education and health care. It’s real-life and hands-on training, rather than the traditional college classroom experience.
“We know the traditional model can be antiqued in some ways. So what can we do to upskill them, to prepare them for 21st-century jobs?” said Merced College president Chris Vitelli, who developed the program for the school.
The program is unique, Vitelli says, because students can master a specific skill while making a living at the same time.
More than 40% of full-time students have a job while they’re in school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But they’re also 20% less likely to finish their degree, according to the American Educational Research Association.
As a non-traditional college student, Marquez can work and study, making $1,300 a week. It’s a big help for the 32-year-old father of two.
“You get in, get the training and then you just keep on building from there,” Marquez said.
There are now more than 1,000 of these programs at colleges across the country and 82% of them expect the number of those programs to grow, according to the American Institutes for Research.
“It’s incumbent on us to meet their needs and not the opposite way around,” Vitelli said.
Marquez started traditional college when he was 18. He didn’t like it and couldn’t afford it when his scholarships ran out. Now, he can earn an industry-recognized certificate — with added fuel to finish.
“I’m first generation. Being able to accomplish that, get that and be an example for my daughters — I mean, that’s where it’s at,” Marquez said.
