Posted on 11/01/2011 8:27:13 AM PDT by thackney
Jim Stout, an English professor at Williston State College in Williston N.D., started losing some of his best students to the oil fields last year. It was too hard to compete: The students could either spend thousands of dollars on a college education or earn $100,000 a year working on the rigs, performing maintenance on oil wells or driving trucks.
"At some point they decide, 'Well, college will always be here ... but the oil boom won't,'" he said.
One engineering student dropped out of college last winter to take a job boiling the water used in hydraulic fracturing. In just two weeks, he made $5,000, according to Lance Olson, a science instructor at the college.
While some students leave the college altogether, others take the bare minimum of courses necessary in order to qualify for campus housing and still be able to work. So class time often comes second to their day jobs.
"One of my students working in the oilfields habitually came in late, and started to fall asleep in class," said Stout. "I asked him what was going on, and he said, 'I'm putting in 90 hours a week because the overtime pays so well ... to be honest with you, I'll get what you cover from my friends in class, but don't count on me staying awake or getting to class on time.'"
America's Biggest Boomtown
Only about one-third of Williston State College students graduated from the two-year associate's degree program last year, said Mike Hillman, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs with the North Dakota University System. That rate has stayed around 35% to 40% for the past few years, but Hillman said he expects it to plunge even lower this school year as students exit early for jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Yikes!!!!!
On the flip side how many graduating students have an albatross of huge college student loans from overbloated tuition rates haging around their necks? Absurd what most of these colleges charge for tuition—a big ripoff.
I hire a lot of engineers for the automotive industry. Despite however many letters are after their name, how many degrees they have, or how long they went to college - it always comes down to what they can do, rather than what they know.
The real world doesn’t fool around - lol - prove you can do the job or hit the bricks.
I went from retiring from the military to the corporate world to faculty at a small university because that is what I wanted to do, knowing that the pay would be somewhat less but that I would enjoy the job more. Get a grip professor; a lot of your students have the potential to make more than you do and they seem to be smarter than you by taking the time away from school to make money in the oil industry. The smart ones realize that it won’t be a lifetime job and most couldn’t keep up the pace as they get older but for now it is the more lucrative path. If the good professor is young enough and able enough, take a sabbatical and work the oil fields; he might learn some life lessons.
All we need to do is get rid of the Democrats:)
When I was a missile launch officer in North Dakota during the late 70s the oil industry and massive exploration had already taken off. It has taken this long for the leases and operations to become profitable enough to pursue.
“...government specs...”
That’s what used to be proudly known as “close enough for government work”.
“...Jim Stout, an English professor at Williston State College in Williston N.D...”
Betcha most of what he teaches has nothing to do with English or literature.
If true, then perhaps he also might be better off working in the oil fields.
Wow, that’s a really nice thing. He probably taught those kids more than they could learn in a lifetime from a leftist professor. You are fortunate to have had him for your father. God bless him.
I thought the OWS loons were all complaining of no jobs?
And now some self-important professor suggests students should not be working, earning really good salaries so they can be bored in his class while wracking up massive debt in student loans?
I think he part of the problem.
The Bakken was proven as a horizontal well target in Eastern Montana (Elm Coulee Field) in the very late '90s and the early 2000s and with a couple of really good discoveries in North Dakota, coupled with rising prices, activity escalated.
There has only been a short period in 98 or 99 when there was no drilling at all in North Dakota since the discovery of oil here in the '50s.
I manage three programs for our community college. Also teach in these programs. Two of these programs are designed to produce workers for local coal fired power plants and the electric distribution network (power lines and buried lines.) The programs were started two years ago because these companies came to us and begged us to get people trained. Half of their workforces will be retiring in the next 5-10 years and some have started already. I meet with these companies quarterly to keep them updated. Last summer they volunteered to have recruiting drives at their facilities. Most of my instructors are from the industry.
All of my graduates will go on to make 50% more money than me. I am glad to be able to help them train for and get these jobs.
Hard to keep enrollments up when there are greener pastures just over the fence, and fewer students means fewer professors...
These things move in cycles, however, and when drilling slows, there will be more students.
It's not for nothing that they call the job position "roughneck".
I myself have several thousand in student loans. However, I was wise enough to get a masters’ degree that will allow me to enjoy fruitful employment, so I will have no problem paying my student loans. The issue isn’t just student loans. It’s stupid hippy liberal kids getting useless degree’s like “Womyn’s Studies” or “Musical Theater” or “Art History.” These degrees guarantee that students are too financially strapped to pay their loans. Federal loan programs should be reformed so that they are only extended to majors that have a clear marketable use.
LOL gub’mint work and OSHA and pipeline standards are a little different. Some of those lines are over 12 inches and hold thousand of lbs in pressure....near houses.
That looks like the Mackinac Bridge, around 1957. Five died building it, including 2 who fell over 500 feet.
I saw a kid last year, his first day on the job operating an industrial press. Trimmed back the tips of 8 fingers at once.
He should do fine, all of the amputations were past the last joint but he wanted to be a Marine and was scheduled to start basic that year.
My pipe dream is to get them out of the business completely and let the private sector charge interest rates commensurate with marketability. Mechanical engineering or nursing, maybe 5%. Business, maybe 7%. Womyn's studies, try 35%.
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