What You Should Know About Graduating From Community College in Texas
One of the most important aspects of choosing a career track is how much you can earn after you graduate. In Texas, the jobs with the highest pay were air traffic controllers, nuclear technicians, hydrologic technicians, radiation therapists, and nuclear medicine technologists, as of 2021.
There should also be job openings available in your chosen career. The jobs that are looking for the most people in Texas include preschool teachers, paralegals, computer network support specialists, radiologic technologists, and architectural and civil drafters.
The careers with the highest rates of declining employment in Texas that require an associate degree are nuclear technicians, desktop publishers, and broadcast technicians. While this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pursue one of these careers if you want, it does mean that you’ll need to be aware that the job field may be more competitive.
What’s Next?
When you’re looking at the community colleges available in Texas and trying to choose the one that’s the best fit for you, you’ll want to also look at the financial aid options available. We’ve provided a list of resources that can connect you to grants, scholarships, and other types of financial aid available for associate degrees, both at the state and federal level.
- Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The Texas Higher Education Agency gives students information on financial aid options at the state level, and it also provides the guidelines for what qualifies as being in-state for tuition purposes.
- Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid helps students understand what aid opportunities they qualify for, and the office itself hands out more than $120 billion in aid every year. To find out what program you may be eligible for, from grants to work-study, visit the FAFSA4caster and then fill out the online FAFSA form.
- CareerOneStop. Scholarships can be a great way to help fund your associate degree. These awards may be one-time offerings or be renewable for every year you are in school. CareerOneStop makes it easy to find scholarships that are a fit for you. Just filter by degree program and level to find potential opportunities that match up.