Atlanta Technical College (ATC) was established in 1964 and originally enrolled adults in vocational education. At that time there were 24 occupational programs offered. Recently, ATC has produced many students that have been recognized by the state of Georgia. To name a couple, they have seven seven state GOAL (Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership) winners and four state PRIDE (Performance Recognition Indicating Demonstrated Excellence) winners.
Atlanta Technical Colleges strives to provide exceptional education to a diverse audience representing the old and young, people with special needs, all ethnic backgrounds, people with different interests, and much more.
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The Good
- Variety of Programs
- Cost of School
- Job Placement Services
Variety of Programs
Atlanta Technical College has a variety of programs both specialized and unspecialized. These programs will all lead to an Associate of Applied Science Degree, a Diploma, an Associate of Science Degree, or a Technical Certificate of Credit. Students have endless options of what to choose for their field of study. Programs include automotive collision, commercial truck driving, electrical construction and maintenance, industrial systems technology, railroad engineering, and much more. ATC has one of the highest number of options with 49 different programs. A majority of trade schools don't offer any more than 20, which gives ATC a great advantage over others by allowing students to have a plethora of choices of what to study.
Cost of School
At Atlanta Technical, the fees for attendance is based upon the major studied. If you are looking to be a Certified Customer Service Specialist then it will only cost about $1,780. On the other end of the spectrum, if you get a degree in Computer Programming then you can spend up to $11,000. Regardless of your choice of major, ATC is qualified for several different financial aid opportunities students can apply for. Federal financial aid is available as well as federal work-study programs. Both options allow students the chance to get grants or scholarships that will help pay for expenses related to their education. Having all program costs available as well as federal financial assistance options is the best situation for students. You can get the best idea of how much your schooling will cost when all is said and done.
Job Placement Services
Atlanta Technical College has proven to have one of the best and most successful career services programs. Instructors take it upon themselves to constantly look for and help students with employment opportunities both prior to and after graduation. Through their department, students can get assistance in interviewing skills, job search, resume writing, and more. Atlanta Technical's process has proven to work because their job placement rate for 2015 was 98%! This is by far the best placement rate we have seen in trade colleges. Students at ATC need to take full advantage of their career services program to get the absolute best chances of gaining employment.
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The Bad
- Graduation Rate
- Missing Information
Graduation Rate
The only things amiss Atlanta Technical College is that they do not have the best graduation rate. In 2015, 62% of their students graduated their programs. This is a relatively low number, especially since most of the top-10 trade colleges don't fall 70% in their graduation rate. However, ATC's 62% is an improvement from their year before which was 55%. Increasing number is always a step in the right direction, but Atlanta Technical definitely could work on this number in order to prove they are really are a top competitor in trade schools.
Missing Information
The only piece of information that we could not find with Atlanta Technical was their cohort default rate. It's never a good sign that a college isn't revealing information, but with ATC their other rates are transparent and so good that this is a very minor detail that can be overlooked in this situation. But, if ATC wants to be even better than what they currently are then they should look at publishing that information online. This will be beneficial to potential students.