WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Texas State Technical College in Waco is seeing a surge in enrollment as more students trade the traditional college path for careers in the skilled trades.
The school has recorded nine consecutive semesters of double-digit enrollment growth, jumping from about 6,500 to 9,000 students in less than three years.
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HVAC student Maxwell Migliozzi is one of those students. He said working with his hands always felt natural, but a personal experience pushed him to formalize that passion.
"During Snowmageddon, our whole system went out and I had to get up at 5 in the morning and go fix it and figure it all out on YouTube, and I didn't really know what I was doing. Grew up welding, grew up carpenter, plumbing, a little bit of everything, but I didn't know how to do HVAC, so I figured why not learn something new," Migliozzi said.
Migliozzi said he has already encouraged others to follow the same path.
"TSTC is great. I recommend, recommended it to all my friends in high school. A lot of them ended up following me here, so it's a good school. I love it," Migliozzi said.
The demand for skilled workers in the region is a major driver of that growth. Beth Wooten, provost for TSTC in Waco, said local industry is actively seeking a pipeline of trained technicians.
"Here in central Texas, the industry is just calling every, every day. They need a pipeline of skilled technicians primarily in central Texas and advanced manufacturing. Waco has added about 4000 job postings in the last 3 to 4 years, which is tremendous growth for our region. And TSTC is doing what we can to make sure that those industry partners have the skilled technicians that they need," Wooten said.
Wooten also said the rise of artificial intelligence is not a threat to trade careers — and may make them even more valuable.
"AI is not coming for the trades and so students that come to TSTC will learn a skill that no one can take away from them," Wooten said.
New funding from BlackRock is also supporting TSTC's electrical program, helping the school continue to grow alongside rising admissions.
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