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Career Colleges    » Virginia

Virginia Career Colleges and Universities

Career and Technical Training in Virginia

List career colleges and universities in Virginia. The oldest college or university in Virginia is The College of William and Mary Each program from a Virginia Career College, a post-secondary for-profit institution, offers an education with an in-demand career field. The programs are designed to get you work-ready, equipped with the practical knowledge, and the competence needed to obtain a competitive career in Virginia.

At career colleges in Virginia, you typically don't take general education classes in core subjects such as English and math. Instead, you focus on career-related courses.

Virginia Career-Focused Degree Programs

Explore Virginia education options, including? Northern Virginia Community College, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia.?

High tech, health care and more at Virginia colleges and universities

Students of Virginia universities enjoy a close proximity to Washington D.C., a political center and an occupational starting point for many graduates. If you're considering a Virginia education, you have plenty to choose from. Take a look at some of the top Virginia colleges, universities and vocational schools.

• Northern Virginia Community College (Annandale): More than 75,000 students were enrolled in credit courses in 2010-11, 20 percent of whom were international students representing 180 different countries.
• Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond): One of the nation's top research universities and the only academic medical center in Central Virginia.
• George Mason University (Fairfax): Minutes away from Washington, D.C., GMU is known for its law school.
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg): Popularly known as Virginia Tech, the school features 8 colleges, a graduate school and over 30,000 full-time students.
• University of Virginia (Charlottesville): Boasts a 2010-11 enrollment of 21,049, with 69.1 percent of students from within the state.

All in all, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia reports that Fall 2010 enrollments across Virginia colleges and universities totaled 409,277 including 358,421 undergraduates, 45,763 graduates and 5,093 students earning a first professional degree.

Strong wages for top Virginia jobs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the over 3.5 million workers employed in Virginia in 2010 earned mean annual wages of $47,840. Here are a few mean annual wages from popular occupation categories in the state:

• Management: $115,320/year
• Computer and mathematical: $88,730
• Community and social service: $43,880
• Education, training, and library: $51,740
• Installation, maintenance, and repair: $43,400

Education pays at Virginia colleges

A nationwide survey by the BLS found that adult workers with an associate degree in 2010 made, on average, $7,332 more than those with a high school diploma over the course of one year. That same year, those with a bachelor's degree earned $14,092 more than those with an associate degree. Whether you choose Virginia career schools or universities, you're earning an education that can work in your favor.

Consider Virginia career training for top growing local occupations

Health care, business and IT careers lead Virginia's state-wide occupation growth charts. The Virginia Department of Labor reports its occupational projections between 2008 and 2018. Take a look at some of the careers with the most new availabilities during that decade:

1. Management analysts: 18,660 new jobs
2. Registered nurses: 14,180 new jobs
3. Computer applications software engineers: 13,580 new jobs
4. Computer systems software engineers: 12,280 new jobs
5. Network systems and data communications analysts: 11,670 new jobs

Begin your path towards the Fortune 500 with a Virginia education

Looking to train for a career at a large company? Virginia is home to 20 of the top Fortune 500 companies nationwide. Companies run the gamut of financial, manufacturing and aerospace business and include Freddie Mac, General Dynamics, Capital One Financial, AES and Altria Group. While no Virginia college can guarantee you'll find employment at a specific company, hiring managers at competitive businesses like these tend to look for employees with solid training credentials.

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