Why PTC Is a Great Place to Start

Did you know that you can graduate college and head off to an awesome career without crippling student debt? It’s the American Dream, right? Pickens Technical College isn’t the embodiment of the American Dream the way that Tony Montana or Ruth Bader Ginsberg is, but it can help you build a foundation for success throughout your collegiate career and send you across the graduation stage debt-free.

PTC offers complete career and technical certificate programs in many common subjects that students study later. It also can help you knock those pesky graduation requirement credits out of the way for much less than attending college at a state school and spending thousands of dollars on tuition, room and board, books, etc. Many students have seen the advantage of taking two years at a technical college like PTC.

A personal story: When I was a senior in high school, I thought that my life was over because my parents couldn’t quite afford college tuition for me and I didn’t earn enough in scholarships/financial aid/working at a plant store. They had wisely invested in a credit union Guaranteed Education Tuition fund when I was born, but that fund would only cover tuition, room and board, and other expenses for the first two years. I thought I had two options, go to a technical college for two years and transfer to the college I wanted, or take out a huge loan and end up in debt long into my forties. It turns out that I got help from a family friend and I worked during college to cover the rest, but I seriously considered technical college for a long time because it’s a great option.

Oftentimes, you’ll get the same level of education in technical college courses for your intro-level college courses as you will at a four-year state school. In fact, as I can attest, intro-level college courses are often attended by hundreds of students who can’t possibly get the same level of attention that they can at a local college. Four-year colleges are great, and there’s no replacing dorm life, but if your options are huge debt when you leave a four-year college or a technical college like PTC, it’s smarter to eliminate student debt when you can. Your future self will thank you.

PTC is a great place to start your higher education journey because it prepares you for the next educational step or career if you want. Many students jump right into awesome jobs with the training and education they learned at PTC. The curriculum here is always geared toward your next stop on your life journey, whether that’s onto a four-year college or a career right away, that’s up to you. But you can bet that PTC can help you get the building blocks of future success together.