College certificates are cheaper post-secondary option

Career College Central Summary:

Two parked ambulances are the backdrop for life-saving lessons in a lab at Wayne County Community College District's Downriver Campus.
There, Sarah Ormerod, 34, is working toward becoming a certified Emergency Medical Technician. She expects to complete the course in December after having class twice a week over four months.
"EMT basic is a great course if you're considering a career in the health-care field, public health, emergency medicine," the Detroit woman said. "This is a good way to get sort of a bite-sized taste of it."
Ormerod is part of a growing number of adults who are turning to certificates rather than — or as a supplement to — college degrees.
Certificates recognize a completed course of study in a certain field. They're the fastest growing form of post-secondary credentials in the U.S., becoming the most common award after the high school degree, said Anthony Carnevale, a labor economist and director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
He said certificates are an increasingly attractive option because they're affordable and don't take long to acquire. Many programs last a year or less compared with about four years for a bachelor's degree.
Popular fields of study include health care, business or office management, computer and information services, construction trades and electronics.
The "explosive" growth in certificate programs over the last two decades has been fueled largely by two-year colleges and private for-profit schools, Carnevale said. Certificate programs bring in additional revenue to schools and often are easier to add or update than traditional academic programs. Some universities also offer certificates.
Carnevale, who coauthored a 2012 study and report about certificate education in the U.S., said certificate holders on average earn 20% more than high school graduates without any post-secondary education.
But a certificate's value is strongly linked to being in the right field.
"If you get a technical certificate in computers or technology of any kind, like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning), you'll tend to earn more. Probably 20 to 25% more than a person with a bachelor's degree (on average across all fields)," Carnevale said. "You can get a certificate in music appreciation, but it won't get you a job."