posted by admin on Nov 8

Planning for College should start with a “Reality Check”…

Texas Workforce Commission has a free website program called “Reality Check” which is the coolest tool to add to career classes and summer job training programs – the data is based on Texas occupations and wages but the lesson on budgeting is universal. If the student is going to invest time in additional training after high school they should know what to expect in future income – this tool – Reality Check will help guide them though a financial literacy lesson. It is a great way for students to explore careers based on projected income from different occupations.

Connected to the Reality Check software is “ Socrates“- which gives a lot of information about the occupations – general job descriptions, method of entry, nature of the work, working conditions, employment outlooks in Texas and the Nation, knowledge and skills needed, work activities and training.

Another career planning website is the Department of Education’s College.gov, a new, student-focused web site designed to motivate students to pursue higher education. The site has three main sections: Why go to college, what to do to get there, and how to pay for it.

posted by admin on Oct 1

All Performance Measures were not created equal…

During my tenure working with a “workforce board”, I got to know the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) inside and out. This Act was started during Clinton’s second term in 1998 – remember the Job Training Partnership Act? Better known as “JTPA” – WIA replaced that Act.

Anyway, what really surprised me was how little people knew about the WIA programs. WIA has funds for youth and adults that need assistance to find a job, support services like childcare, transportation and training.

After realllllllllllly looking for a job for a certain period of time, and no luck – then it may be possible to get WIA training funds. The training funds are issued to the training providers on your behalf in what’s called Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). Here is the catch – it has to be training in an occupation where there is a demand – a job – in the local area.

The local workforce boards are the ones who approve the demand occupation list and the training providers. The training providers are held accountable by data submitted by employers that indicates – get this – job placement! The job placement data for the approved training providers in Texas is kept in a website for everybody to see. The workforce boards are held accountable for the funds – trainee’s social security number does not show up on the quarterly employment reports – the workforce board gets dinged and then the dinging has a political domino effect. Job placement is the ultimate performance measure for success in the WIA training programs.
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posted by admin on Oct 1

Calling All to Financial Literacy!…..

Richard had graduated from high school in 2007; he was a pretty smart guy and got into a state college. He left for his first year in the fall and I did not see him again until the next summer.

“How did it go Richard?” I asked, he said he could not go back to school because he had taken four credit cards he had been offered on the first day of school and had maxed them out. ” On what,” I asked. “Important stuff like pizza, music, electronic stuff… you know the stuff I need to be cool. My parents helped me with my tuition and all my regular budget needs, but I did not have much left to live on, the credit cards were so easy to get and they came with a free t-shirt. The credit card companies are now chasing me, every day they threaten to take me to court. My parents say I have to stop and clear this debt, so I have to work full-time to pay them off and then I can return to school,” he said.

Richard told me this story a short time before the announcement of the failure of the housing market and sub-prime loan crisis. When I asked Richard what kind of interest rate he was paying, that look on his face said it all, this poor soul had no clue, he too had gotten “sub primed”. Because of the lack of credit history payments, he received the highest interest rate and he was now going to pay way more than he had borrowed.
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