Thaddeus Stevens President: ‘Our Performance Matches Purpose’ Testifies Before PA House Appropriations Committee
Lancaster, PA—Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology graduates “will be consumers who drive the economy,” according to William Griscom, the college’s president, in testimony before the state House appropriations committee.
The median student loan debt for Thaddeus Stevens graduates is just $7,200, a fraction of the nationwide average, and in high demand due to the shortage of skilled workers in the Commonwealth. Griscom and Thaddeus Stevens Foundation executive director Alex Munro testified that the college’s annual career fair on Feb. 15 attracted nearly 350 companies looking to fill more than 900 jobs, though Stevens will only award 350 degrees in May. A number of jobs offer starting salaries of $60,000 or more with full benefits.
“While this is a great position for our graduates, the lack of skilled employees threatens the economy and our standard of living,” Griscom said. “A skilled workforce is this only sustainable competitive advantage a company has in the global marketplace.”
Thaddeus Stevens has set ambitions goals for enrollment growth the meet the demand, looking to double from 1,000 undergraduates currently to 2,000 in the next five to 10 years. It has doubled some programs, such as electrical and HVAC, and added new programs like welding and software engineering. The college’s machine tool, HVAC and metals fabrication programs will move to a new $25 million advanced manufacturing center in 2018, tripling capacity.
In addition to supporting the technical workforce needs of the Commonwealth, the college also offers a bridge out of poverty for the poorest qualified citizens of Pennsylvania. Some 51 percent of students are eligible for the federal Pell Grant due to economic need. Breaking the cycle of poverty has been part of the college’s mission since it was founded in 1905 by a bequest from its namesake, Congressman Thaddeus Stevens, of Lancaster.
Thaddeus Stevens was one of five budget hearings for the committee Wednesday, as lawmakers consider Gov. Wolf’s $32.3 billion budget for 2017-2018. The governor proposed level funding for Thaddeus Stevens, which would be $13.2 million, or 1 percent of the state’s total higher education appropriation. Though enrollment increased by 9 percent, the college reduced its cost per student by more than $1,000 from 2015 to 2016.
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology is consistently ranked as Pennsylvania’s top technical college and awards associate degrees in 22 high-demand, skilled occupations. A full listing of programs is available at www.StevensCollege.edu.
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