Highline Community College can offer immediate help for workers displaced amid the current economic troubles.
The Worker Retraining program helps people who are unemployed or facing imminent layoffs learn new professional skills to get back in the work force.
“Workers who find out they are losing their jobs should check into retraining options as soon as possible,” said John Huber, Highline’s Worker Retraining manager. “We can start the enrollment and funding process even before their current job ends.”
More than 200,000 people were searching for work in October as Washington state’s unemployment rate hit 6.3 percent, according to the state Employment Security Department.
Worker Retraining helps pay for the first quarter of college, including tuition, fees and books, so a student can take courses in a Professional-Technical Education program. Students continue to receive unemployment benefits during their studies.
Highline offers many professional-technical programs that train students for what are expected to be the nation’s fastest growing professions through 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Highline’s programs include:
• Medical assistant
• Paralegal
• Respiratory Care
• Customer Service Specialist
• Personal Fitness Trainer
• Medical Transcriptionist
Highline offers certificates that can be completed in as little as a quarter and Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees. A full list of professional-technical programs is available at www.highline.edu.
To receive Worker Retraining funds, students must attend an orientation session, complete an application process and apply for financial aid. Students are asked to bring an unemployment check stub, Washington state driver’s license and academic test scores or an unofficial transcript to the orientation.
To find out more information about Highline’s Worker Retraining program and further eligibility requirements, call 206-878-3710, ext. 3802, or visit www.highline.edu. The Worker Retraining office, located in Building 6, room 214, is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays.
About Highline
Highline Community College was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County. With approximately 10,000 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the state’s largest institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide range of academic transfer and professional-technical education programs, with day, evening, online and weekend classes.
With the most diverse population of any college in Washington state, Highline takes a multicultural approach to education for the success of all its students and the prosperity of its surrounding communities. Alumni include former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, entrepreneur Junki Yoshida and Washington state’s poet laureate Sam Green.
