A Bachelor Of Science Degree Can Start Your Career As A Clinical Lab Technician!
These days it’s impossible to find a medical facility of any size that doesn’t employ at least one clinical lab technician. They are responsible for running and testing any samples a doctor provides for infections, viruses, drugs or whatever is needed for a diagnosis. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently over 300,000 of them in the U.S. The Bureau extrapolates there will be a need for another 50,000 before the decade is out, making it a profession who’s growth is rated greater than average, and one that particularly benefits from an online degree.
While this may sound exceedingly attractive as a career path, coming up with the tuition is a whole other story. These days a four year degree in either medical technology or the life sciences is preferred by recruiters. With the cost of tuition rising faster than the rate of inflation, this can cause many aspiring student to pause. Even with an experienced technician earning over $50,000 a year, a Bachelor’s can have a student paying off the loan for years to come. If you need more information about distance learning programs, look on the internet.
Yet financial assistance is not limited to a Pell Grant and student loans. Actually, because of the nature of this profession there are an incredible number of alternatives to consider. Just to name a few of them:
(1) S-STEM Scholarships – The S-STEM is a national program administered by the National Science Foundation to encourage students to study the science, technology, engineering and mathematic professions. Lab techs are considered one of them. Every year it awards 100 students $100,000 to $600,000 a year, depending on need and academics. For any additional information about college distance learning check the internet.
(2) Professional Societies – As it turns out, there are a number of professional societies for the field. One of them, the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Society has uploaded about 25 different grants and scholarships aimed to anyone from high school student to post-grad…and they are just one such society. There is such good information here, it’s recommended a bit of time be spent with these resources.
(3) Work Study/Internship Programs – This is a very popular way for students to learn about the field, and is usually done in conjunction with an online college or brick-and-mortar university. It’s not only an excellent way to earn credits, but to get a paycheck every one to two weeks. Again, the Society has a lot more information for those who want to pursue this route. Just realize these days most recruiters look for grads with full four year programs.
(4) Corporate Scholarships – A number of health and technological corporations are a source of financial aid. Among them are Tylenol, who gives out $250,000 to promising medical professionals and the Siemens Corporation, who donate over $7 million in STEM-related grants. Do a little homework and you’ll find many more. There is an abundance of information about life experience degree on the web.
If there’s one piece of advice for a student just starting to do his or her research on earning an online degree, it’s to do all this research with the aid of a financial aid officer. They can help not only with the paperwork, but also provide guidance regarding other federal and private financial aid programs to pay the tuition, fees and other related costs for getting that degree in science . Considering all else that goes with just getting this kind of career off the ground, all the help one can get is a good thing.
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