Most Vocational Schools Grow or Remain Stable in Recession

At the Concorde Career Institute in North Hollywood, enrollment for its yearlong medical and dental training programs has more than doubled from a year ago. That’s partly because the school recently began offering new courses for surgical technicians and vocational nurses.

But mostly, the increase to 450 students from 220 at this time last year is an effect of the recession, said Robert Gray, Concorde’s director of admissions. “When things go bad for the economy, typically these types of schools do better” because demand for medical workers remains strong, he said.

It’s a different story at All American Contractors License Schools, which has 14 locations, including North Hollywood and Woodland Hills. With the construction industry in a slump, fewer people are seeking a contractor’s license. New enrollments at All American are down to about 200 a month from 300 a year earlier, and the number of locations was recently cut back from 21.

“This is kind of par for the course as far as a recession goes,” said Michael Cobb, All American’s general manager. “Everyone is holding onto their dollar.”

When a recession hits, many vocational schools benefit because people who are out of work or fear losing their jobs try to obtain new skills to make themselves more employable. But in this recession the results are more mixed for local schools. Out of 14 trade schools surveyed in the Valley area, seven reported a boost in business since the recession began, five said enrollment hasn’t changed and two reported declines.

Those that have seen an increase are generally offering training for jobs that are now in demand, such as nurses, court reporters and paralegals. But the schools where enrollment has either declined or hasn’t changed are often tied to industries that have been hit particularly hard, such as real estate and travel.

In hard times the small minority of schools where students are not eligible to apply for state and federally funded loans and grants also figure to lose business. For instance, at the American College of Hotel and Restaurant Management in North Hollywood, enrollment is off about 15%, director Barbara Thomas said. That’s partly because hotels and restaurants are feeling the recession’s bite, but it’s also because American College’s students don’t receive financial aid, she said.

“When people are laid off, they don’t have the money,” Thomas said. American College’s 14- to 16-month programs cost $2,300 to $2,700.

Some trade schools themselves may have fallen victim to the recession. Telephone numbers listed for the Encino Computer College in Reseda and American Video Repair Institute in San Fernando were disconnected. Recorded messages gave no forwarding numbers.

Even schools where enrollment levels haven’t changed feel the recession’s effects in other ways.

Ione Gamrat, director of Catherine College in Panorama City, which offers secretarial, computer and accounting courses, said recessions usually mean increased business for the school but that this time around enrollments are just holding steady. She believes that’s because this recession has hit more middle-management jobs, and Catherine caters more to lower-level workers.

Bobbi Ripley, the only instructor at her Sharpe Touch Typing School in Sherman Oaks, teaches two or three students in one class at a time, and that hasn’t changed since the recession started. But the kind of people who sign up for her instruction has. Rather than college students or entry-level workers, she’s seeing more professionals come through her door. One student, for instance, is a real estate agent who can’t make any money in the depressed housing market, so she’s training to become an office worker.

At the Bartender Training Institute in Glendale, director Scott Carlin said the number of students remains the same as pre-recession levels, with about 20 enrollees a month. In normal times, most of his students are out-of-work actors or others who have long been unemployed. Now more students are employed, but they’re learning to tend bar to supplement their incomes or as a safety net in case they get laid off.

Meanwhile, some schools might have the recession to thank for an increase in business.

Milo Speriglio, administrator of the Nick Harris Detective Academy in Van Nuys, said he’s getting 30 calls a day from prospective students, up from the usual five. Why? “A lot of people are fearful their current occupation is not going to be around,” Speriglio said. “This is an industry that’s not leaving.”

And though the 11-week detective course is expensive--even with the grants that Nick Harris offers, it costs about $2,800 plus books and materials--the profession pays well, Speriglio added. The minimum salary for a licensed detective is $55 an hour.

Court reporting is another highly paid field, with starting salaries of about $50,000 a year. Not surprisingly, enrollment at Merit College in Van Nuys, which offers court reporting and paralegal courses, has grown to 900 from 750 a year ago, said Mary Williams, acting director.

Paralegal work pays less, but it’s in demand because the volume of litigation continues to grow and attorneys use paralegals to do their “grunt work,” Williams said.

United Education Institutes has seen enrollment jump to 180 from 150 a year ago at its Van Nuys location. Many new students at the school--which offers electronics, computer and secretarial training--are former auto and manufacturing workers hoping to find jobs in the service sector, the school’s president, Abdi Lajevardi, said.

Charles Hasekian, director of the California Institute of Locksmithing in Van Nuys, said his enrollment is up about 10%. Recent graduates of the 12-week program include a former bank executive, laid-off aerospace workers and a psychology Ph.D.

At the Touch Therapy Institute in Sherman Oaks, director Maria Grove said enrollment has steadily increased since she started the massage school 1 1/2 years ago. More than 60% of the graduates of the $880 course are now working as masseurs and masseuses, she said.

Could recession-related stress be helping the massage business? “There’s more work than there’s ever been” in the field, Grove said.