It would be easy to look at the closure of schools such as Triangle Tech and assume demand for skilled trades is slipping.
That isn’t what the data shows.
National Student Clearinghouse data, in fact, shows vocational education enrollment increased nearly 14% in fall 2024.
The reasons for those closures aren’t one-size-fits-all. Some for-profit schools collapsed under their own problems — loss of accreditation or shaky finances, as seen with ITT Technical Institute and the Art Institutes. Others, like Triangle Tech, pointed to economic pressures reshaped by the post-covid world. None of that changes the underlying demand.
Lackawanna College, a Scranton-based nonprofit institution, is moving in the opposite direction. It is expanding.
The school this week announced a move into Westmoreland County. It plans to welcome students in electrical technology, welding and fabrication at a Greensburg campus this fall.
That builds on other programs in career and technical education that are seeing growing interest. Westmoreland County Community College enrollment is up 26%.
Lackawanna Chief Operating Officer T.J. Eltringham said it was the climbing demand, coupled with the 2024 closure of Triangle Tech, that made Greensburg an attractive area for expansion. It wasn’t the only factor, however.
He also pointed to growing demand for data centers, which are gaining attention in the region as plans are proposed or underway. Those projects don’t just bring servers and infrastructure. They also bring the need for people who can build, wire and maintain them — and that demand doesn’t wait.
One benefit of career and technical education is it can respond more quickly to workforce needs and changes than larger programs. That has been evident as regional schools add training tied to industries such as oil and gas and expand offerings in cutting-edge computer and robotics fields.
These can help high school graduates or adult learners looking for a career change embark on new paths with defined and convenient goals.
But that connection doesn’t happen on its own. It depends on students choosing these paths, schools offering them and employers willing to hire.
Western Pennsylvania has rich opportunities. It has people who could fill those roles with the right training. Schools that offer such training are the link between the two.