Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board
Workforce Training Results Report
December 2008
Private Career Schools
Private career schools are independent businesses that provide students with training in a
variety of occupations. No public funds are appropriated for private career schools, but
eligible students may:
• Obtain federal grants and loans to pay for educational expenses if the school they
choose has been authorized to participate in federal student aid programs.
• Secure funding under the state’s Worker Retraining program.
• Use “Individual Training Account” vouchers, funded under the Workforce Investment
Act (WIA) Title I-B.
There are roughly 363 private career schools in Washington state. The Workforce Training
and Education Coordinating Board (Workforce Board) licenses more than 250 certificate-
granting vocational institutions. The Higher Education Coordinating Board authorizes 22
private schools that grant associate degrees (12 of which also grant baccalaureate
degrees). Although the state’s 87 cosmetology schools are regulated by the Department
of Licensing, they are included in this study.
This study is based on information gathered from 168 certificate-granting schools licensed
by the Workforce Board that reported sufficient data (32 did not report any Social Security
numbers, four did not respond and 33 did not have any students or were new schools
with no completers). In addition, there were 87 cosmetology schools and eight private
degree granting schools that sent program data. Program records were collected on
15,581 students who left programs during the 2005-2006 school year. The median length
of enrollment for these students was four months. However, private career school
programs vary widely in their length, and in 2005-2006, one quarter of the students
enrolled for longer than 10 months, while another quarter enrolled for less than one
month.
Workforce Training Results
Private Career Schools
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Workforce Training and Educat