A Career In The Automotive Industry Is One That Will Last
Article by Natasha Bright
With the automotive industry retooling itself to electrical and other energy efficient vehicles, the opportunity for STEM-related careers has exploded. Detroit and the rest of the world needs young researchers, engineers and technicians to create and produce these new cars and finding enough of these people is still a problem.
Because of this, many professional organizations inside the car industry are stepping up to help nip this problem at the bud. They are financing or administering a number of grants and scholarships to help entice anyone from high school graduates to college upper-classmen into their industry. Some of the plans they’ve created attract potential STEM personnel.
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has created a wide array of scholarships. Many of these are being done with major industrial names in the field and have produced financial aid packages that might be of interest to anyone just out of secondary school to those working on their PhD degrees.
A central scholarship is the Engineering Scholarship Grants. It provides a renewable ,500 a year to promising STEM students participating in a four-year program in engineering and related automotive degrees. To qualify, an applicant needs a 3.75 minimum grade point average as well as financial records. Another key plan is the TMC/SAE Donald D. Dawson Technical Scholarship. As the title states, this program is for technicians and is also open to two-year degrees. A student should also look at the SAE for his or her upperclassman and post-graduate programs.
As the automotive and STEM careers are heavily male dominated, the Automotive Women’s Alliance created its own program. Its scholarship is open to any woman just graduating from high school up to working on her post-graduate degree, just as long as she commits to working in the car industry upon graduating. As long as a woman meets her qualifying criteria, the AWA can award her as much as ,500 a year.
Another important aspect of the industry is the aftermarket sector. To help produce more qualified technicians in the arena, the Automotive Parts and Service Association of Illinois provides six scholarships of 0 each. Applicants must have a high school degree and be enrolled in a full-time school. They will be chosen on scholastic achievement and financial need. The scholarship is renewable for four years.
The Memorial Scholarship is provided by the Special Equipment Market Association (SEMA). To apply, a student must already have 25 credit hours completed at an accredited vocational or community school in addition to holding a 2.5 average or better. This need-based grant can go as high as ,000 annually.
About the Author
With all of that, these are just some of the scholarships and grants the automotive industry is offering prospective students. As said before, students interested in this arena should also look at federal programs like the Pell Grant, state plans and university endowments as additional sources of financial aid. You can even turn to online colleges through eLearners.com for your education! When you add them all up, a student can prepare him or herself for a thrilling future thanks to automotive online colleges.
President Obama’s address to Detroit auto workers on. July 30th, 2010.
Video Rating: 5 / 5