My son went to UTI and it was good for him. He is working as a diesel truck mechanic. Going to the school help him get a job in the industry for some real world training. I think the part time job and the guy that he worked with did more for him than the school.
It never hurts to get schooling and it looks great on the resume. If you can afford it, send him.
MikeM

 

Good way to look at it deadman77

 

Indy.... anything to give em an edge. Seems like fewer young people want to work with their hands than in previous generations. I have multiple sons. One with a year to go in high school. I am kicking around ideas for him. He aint a school type but seems to do good in all the work with your hands classes, welding, shop & this year is taking an auto mechanic class in high school. These seem to be the only classes he is motivated in. If he continues to do well in em, & is motivated in vocation like that I will probably help him go to a school like that. He is talking the military (which I encourage) but, young people change their minds quick

 

Does the ~$20k include room/board, or is that just the tuition? Just curious.

 

Any education is a good thing. Once you get it, no one can ever take it away.

It's unfortunate that the earning potential after MMI will not support a comfortable lifestyle (or a family), if the jobs are even there.

If your son is interested in such things.....a degree in engineering may be the thing to consider in college. Engineers are always in demand, and starting salaries for civil or mechanical engineers right out of college are usually north of $50K, sometimes as high as $70K. At least for the ones who graduate from the university I work at.

But if he is really drawn to being some kind of mechanic or tech, training in heavy equipment will allow him to get a job with greater earning potential.

Maybe wrenching bikes should be the hobby.

 

That is just tuition.....which frankly I found rather high.

Going to look at a university engineering school before we dish out that kind of dough as faber suggested. But I do wonder if he has the drive for that discipline.

 

If your son is nervous about going to university, NAU would be a *great* choice. Smaller campus, more contact and attention from faculty and advisors, smaller classes, nice little town, and not too far from Kingman. They take retention pretty seriously (working to keep students in school and preventing dropouts).

NAU also will lock in tuition and financial aid awards for four years, which is a *great deal*! Not too many schools doing anything like that, especially in this economy. http://home.nau.edu/admissions/ourpledge.asp

ASU is also a great school, but a big campus in a big party town can be a big distraction for freshmen who are already unsure of the transition.

If you have any questions about shopping for schools, PM me. I work at a university and work with a lot of freshmen on transition issues.

 

It has to be his decision in the end. I can speak from experience that I have a 4 year degree and I don't even use it. I drive a truck for a living and make a lot more doing it then I would with my degree. Don't get me wrong I would love to be in my field of study but it doesn't pay enough for 2 kids and a wife.

There are always jobs out there for mechanics and there is even a website that has jobs posted on it for motorcycle jobs (just can't remember the site). List the pros and cons and let him make the decision.

 

I went to MMI and I'm from one of the classes of 2007. I went in Orlando FL. It cost me then $20,000 just to go to the school. Rent down in Orlando was $850 a month plus for a one bedroom apt. It wasn't a fancy place either. The best best job I could get down there do to all the schools and everyone fighting for jobs was $5.75 hr at Orlando HD folding T-shirts which barely paid for the gas for me to drive there to work. Out of my class of 65 only 20 made it through and out of the 20 only one person I know of still works in the field as a tech at a Dealership two years later making $12 hr in Illinois. I came back to WI and worked at a dealship here for awhile and made only $9.00 hr and didn't get a raise the whole time I was there when I was promised 3 in the first three months. They just kept putting it off everytime I brought it up. Dealerships don't want to pay their techs squat and want to pocket all the money they rip off from the public for themselves even though you do all the work and the tools and they charge $75 hr labor. There were other techs that worked at that dealership for 20 years and made only $18 hr. I did learn a lot going to MMI and the instructors were cool but was it worth the money hell no I quit a $15 hr job and paid $20,000 plus rent for almost 2 years for $9.00 hr and a bunch of false promises. Plus the school lies and will tell people you can get parts for your bike at cost and work on your own bikes after class and run your bike on the dyno just to get you to sign up. They told us that when I took a tour of the school and were still telling it to people when they brought them into our class on a tour and that was 1 year later. They won't even let you test ride a bike there. They also have a ton of stupid rules and will kick you out if you break any of them like not having your shirt tucked in or for swearing or if you forgot your name badge. And if you have long hair you have to put it in a ponytail and hide it under your shirt or if your beard is too long you have to cut it. They even tried to make a rule that if you had tattoos on your arms you had to wear long sleeves under your uniform to hide them then they noticed 70% of the people there had ink in there arms so they gave up on that. And they are behind Harley by at least 2 years we were working on TC 88's and five speeds when the 96 TC's and six speeds came out and they said it would be another year and half before they would get the new motors and trannys and I would be long gone before that. Plus on average 2 students a mounth are killed in bike wrecks there beause the people in Orlando drive like idiots. I lost 2 friends and was almost killed 3 times myself. Dealerships now are laying techs off so finding a job fresh out of school now would be hard and if you did they probley aren't going to pay you anything you could live on.

 

If he has a talent for wrenching, why not steer him toward aircraft mechanics? I went to school at La Tech in Lafayette. Two year course for well under $5000 including tools & books. Cheap to live down here too. Also the Pell Grant covered it all for me. There will always be a demand for A&P mechs.