As college acceptance letters stumble in, and tuition bills loom large on the horizon, what a student takes away – besides the university’s name on their diploma – suddenly really matters.
Santa Ynez Valley High School students are peppered with 21st Century learning skills throughout their tenure there. But as they graduate, they are forced to more precisely define what they need to study in college to end up with the job they really want. But how do they know if a job that sounds exciting will end up a good match for them?
Cooperative education is a system of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. “The idea isn’t new, but with the lasting economic downturn, co-operative education is all the rage. Parents and students want some assurance that their degree is going to result in a job after college,” says Cristiana Quinn, M.Ed., who is the founder of College Admission Advisors, LLC.
Experimental learning programs of various types are a growing trend on many high school and college campuses – even here in the Valley. “Ninety-two percent of seniors graduating from Santa Ynez have taken at least one ROP class,” says superintendent Paul Turnbull. As part and parcel of many of those classes, students participate in off campus work opportunities, including sports medicine, education and Ag.
Given current economic woes, and the No Child Left Behind Act’s single minded focus on math and English, cooperative education “is just one more thing we’d love to do but don’t have the resources to,” says Turnbull. While the high school’s options are fairly limited, some colleges offer a wide variety of opportunities. One of the largest and longest-running programs is at Northeastern University (NU) in Boston, Ma.
The program began more than 100 years ago and has grown to the point that more than 6,000 NU students are working in a co-op experience during some part of each academic year. Most of those jobs are paid positions, located in 60 countries and more than 90 cities, says Renata Nyul, Director of Communication at NU.
NU offers students two main options – a four-year, two co-op program or a five-year, three co-op option, says Nyul. They are the only university that does, she says. Students do not pay tuition while engaged in work-based education. So even on a five-year plan, most students take only eight campus based semesters in Boston or abroad.
Co-ops are not required at NU, and that seems to be the general rule for universities that offer them. But most students undertake at least one, says Nyul. During their sophomore year, NU students take a one-unit class to prepare them for the experience, which is usually enjoyed during what would otherwise be the second semester of the sophomore year. But nothing is cast in stone.
Students are encouraged to develop a plan that best meets their educational and financial needs, says Nyul. They develop resumes, research appropriate jobs, ascertain what academic classes are needed to support their employment choices and learn the basics of applying and interviewing for jobs.
Some students will use their co-ops to try several kinds of positions. For example, an English major may try working at a publishing company, then give teaching a go and perhaps work in the public relations office of a major corporation or political campaign.
However, says Nyul, some students opt to stick with the same company, instead working in different jobs or divisions. At NU, she says, they try to bend the program to meet the students’ needs rather than the other way around.
“Unfortunately, we have no current co-op students in the Santa Barbara area. Over the last couple of years, we have had students there and their employers have included Life Chronicles, John Hancock Wealth Management Group, Rehabilitation Institute of Santa Barbara Experience and the University of California Santa Barbara,” says Bruce Ronkin, vice provost for Undergraduate Education.
Students are paired with an academic mentor on campus and a professional mentor at their co-ops, so they always have someone to guide and support them through the process, says Ronkin.
Nyul says that about 90% of their students report that they choose to attend NU because of the co-op program and the chance to get a leg up on employment options before graduating. The end result, she says, is that 90% of 2011 graduating seniors are either attending graduate schools or employed full time – many with companies at which they co-oped.
Because NU students often have 18 months of paid professional experience in their chosen field by the time they graduate, the jobs they secure are often above entry level, putting them ahead of their peers from other universities, Nyul says.
When students return to campus, after their first employment experience, they take a follow-up, one-unit course. There they assess the experience and ready themselves for the next step in their professional lives, says Ronkin.
“We currently have a number of co-op students in Los Angeles. The employers include Syco Entertainment, Secret Road Artist Management & Music Service, Johnson & Johnson Neutrogena, CBS Television, Karla Otto Inc. and Q Prime,” says Ronkin. But students aren’t limited to the options presently in place.
“What we will often do with students who want to go home to co-op is learn from them if they have a specific employer in mind. Then we’ll reach out to the companies, introduce them to NU and co-op, and develop that into a long-term NU/employer relationship,” says Ronkin.
Ultimately, it is not just students that find the experience an asset, says Ronkin. Many companies find that co-op students bring a great deal of enthusiasm to the table and the short-term job experience allows both sides to ascertain if the skills, personalities and needs of each are a match for long-term employment after graduation.
In most instances, each co-opting experience lasts one semester with the summer tagged on to either end, or about six months total. But the length of the job opportunity is tied to the requirements of the employer, says Ronkin – sometimes it’s only a summer. Keeping an eye on the employer’s needs is key to the success of the program.
NU works with employers to identify the educational background applicants should have. Some jobs have specific educational pre-requisites that students must meet before applying. The university then gathers the resumes of interested students and forwards them to the employer, who makes the decision on which students to hire, says Ronkin.
Students are responsible for finding their own housing while on co-op, says Nyul. It is another part of getting students ready for the real world. Students tend to pay their housing costs out of their co-op income so the extra year in school isn’t an added financial burden.
Additionally, says Nyul, because many companies have long-standing relationships with NU, it is not uncommon to have a departing co-op student’s job taken by another NU student. That often means passing housing from student to student.
While there are numerous universities both nationally and internationally that offer co-ops, the depth and breadth of the programs vary. University of Cincinnati, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Auburn University, University of Buffalo and Concordia University in Montreal are just a few.
Some schools, NU included, encourage or require students participate in service learning. “As an urban university, service-learning is part of Northeastern’s ethical mission. But more than good works, service-learning on our campus is an academically rigorous experience,” university officials say.
Service learning is another area Turnbull would like to see Santa Ynez students have the chance to experience. “We’ve talked about it,” he says, and it was something that was considered during principal Mark Swanitz’s first year at the school. The school doesn’t have the funding to provide oversight at the moment. Even so, says Turnbull, the school board would look favorably on the subject if an outside organization was willing to step up to administer a program.
Service learning provides benefits to participants on both ends of the equation. “Students engage in hands-on service to address community needs, learning by applying course concepts to their experiences, and reflecting on those experiences back in the classroom,” NU tells its students.
Whether it is service learning or cooperative education, participating students find they are graduating with a greater sense of readiness to take on the world and are feeling less like youngsters not quite sure of what is yet to come.