Garden Grove Named a Top Trade School

Concorde's campus in Garden Grove, Calif. recently earned some exciting national recognition. Forbes magazine recently listed its "Top 30 Two-Year Trade Schools: Colleges That Fight the Nations Skills Gap." Concorde Garden Grove campus made the list at No. 30.

The list ranked schools, including many health care career colleges, by early career salary ($36,600) and most popular area of study (health professions and related programs). It measured three critical data points - earnings, affordability, and quality.

"The whole campus was thrilled that we were named one of the top 30 schools by Forbes," said Nicholas Ewell, Campus President at Concorde - Garden Grove. "High-fives all around! When we looked into the objective metrics they used to select us, we were even more proud."

"I give all the credit to our excellent team. They work hard every single day to provide a relevant and high-quality education to our students."

Health care career colleges fare well in rankings

Concorde - Garden Grove was in good company among health care career colleges on the Forbes list. In fact, the top 10 on the list were nursing schools or health care career colleges. No. 1 was St. Paul's School of Nursing-Queens in Rego Park, N.Y. A total of 19 of the 30 entries on the list were health care career colleges or specialized in nursing.

Paying heed to the two-year trade school

Forbes admitted to long-standing neglect of two-year trade schools. Just as with four-year colleges, which Forbes has ranked for years, not all schools are equal. The study stated that, given a confluence of factors, "some trade schools are even better options than their bachelor's - bequeathing counterparts."

The article states that no trade schools embody the two-year advantage better than health professions institutions. That includes health care career colleges or nursing schools. The largest online salary database, an associate's degree in nursing will get you paid quickly and well, according to Payscale. The degree ranks third for pay among associate degrees... and higher than 75 percent of four-year majors.

This success makes sense, as the nursing trade is projected to grow even more in the coming years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that, between 2014-2024, more than 700,000 jobs will be added in the occupations of registered nurses and nursing assistants.

Meeting the skills gap

Whether this plenitude of jobs is filled is contingent on people receiving the right training for them.

"There is no question that there's a skills gap in the United States," Jay Moon, president of the Mississippi Manufacturer's Association, said in the Forbes article. "We have jobs that are not being filled right now because (workers) don't have the skillset."

While there is no catch-all school setting that will guarantee everybody a job, trade schools, including health care career colleges such as Concorde, are a good option and a prime way to build a bigger, better workforce.