I was laided off and did take advantage of it. It was called the JPTA (job training partnership act). I took a associates in Telecomunications from Texas State Technical College. I entered the T-com industry during the boom. I'm lucky to still have the same job for 6 years now considering the economy. I have servived three or four rounds of lay-offs. There is realy nobody to lay off that does what I do in the company. There is no telling were I would have ended up had I not done it. I new several that were in classes for welding and some were even in the funded by the JPTA. I talked with one of the welders not to long ago and he was doing well. Welding is a trade skill and will always be needed. I don't see how you can go wrong with that especialy if somebody else is sporting the bill. :thumb:
In exchange to for paying for it (books, supplies, and tuition) they made you sign a few papers saying that it could possibly put you in debt and that your full time job was now school. They also required you to fill out a servey after you had been working in your field that your trained for after 6 months. They don't pay for your living exspenses.
It took me just a little over 2 years although I don't think the welding class took that long. I was 21 then and saving for school so I did not have much to loose. I had a student worker job and did custom picture framing on the side while maintaining a full time class load. I also got a Pell Grant my last semister (very easy to score if you have been in the military or you are over the age of 23). I realy wanted to follow it up the a batchlers in Electronics Engineering, but I'm not so sure now that I have 6 years experince in the field. I work for a consulting engineering firm. They got me cheap right out of school.
One of the best feelings in the world was snagging a job before I left school and leaving the campus with all of my stuff packed in my car. I owned my car, I had a job, I had a small apartment, I had 100 bucks in my pocket, and best of all I owed nobody any money. The crappy part was I only had money to buy a air matress to sleep on in my living room floor. I was happy though.