Award winning and fully accredited, Sinclair Community College’s automotive Technology program combines low costs with state of the art training, according Automotive Technology Chairperson Steve Ash.
“Quality wise and equipment wise, this is the best training you can get, and cost wise your’re not going to get it any cheaper,” he said.
Sinclair’s automotive program offers two-year associate degrees, one-year certificates, short-term certificates and a co-op program called A.S.E.P. (Automotive Service Educational Program) where students go to classes half of the quarter and work at a sponsoring dealership the other half.
Whichever program a student chooses, they are all designed to help them pass their Automotive Service Excellence tests to get their A.S.E. certification, according to Ash.
Students also have the choice of taking classes in either the general program or a corporate program sponsored by corporations such as Chrysler, General Motors and Honda.
“The advantages of the corporate program is that you are awarded training credits with those corporations and it opens the doors for jobs,” Ash said.
Ash said because of the relationship Sinclair has with these corporations, they donate late model vehicles and other new equipment to Sinclair for the purposes of training students.
“We just recently got a 2008 Chevrolet Yukon hybrid vehicle,” Ash said. “Sinclair was just one of two colleges in the United States to receive one. While everyone else is struggling with the old antique cars, we are going to be dealing with the latest and greatest.”
Despite the troubling economic times Ash feels like automotives is still a good field to get into. Career Services Manager Matt Massie said there are a variety jobs available to people in the Dayton area with degrees and certificates in automotive technology.
“People with automotive skills and knowledge are in demand,” Massie said. “A lot of people have cars and they always need maintenance.”