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Planning for Life After Graduation: You Got This.

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Learn, Upskill, and Upgrade Your Future.

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Your Dream Job is Out There.

An initiative of the State Board of Education in partnership with Idaho’s employers, Next Steps Idaho is designed to help you understand and pursue the many education and career opportunities available to you.

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Whether you are at a career crossroads, in high school, or at a time in your life when you simply want to try something new, the tools, tips, and information on Next Steps Idaho can help you to take action, bringing you closer to the life you want to lead. 
 
All of the content here has been carefully chosen and provided by Idaho’s career and education experts, ensuring you get solid, trustworthy advice.

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Next Steps resources and tools aimed at helping you figure out who you are, where you want to go, and how to acheive your goals. 

Preparing for College &amp; Career

Next Steps resources and tools to help you determine how to use your skills to find a new career develop additional skills to find a new career.

Advancing or Changing Careers

Next Steps resources and tools to help you find training programs to to pursue your chosen career path. 

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Next Steps Resources and tools to help you understand how to finance your education and connects you with specific financial aid and scholarship opportunities.

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Search the Resource Library for information and guides regarding career exploration, training opportunities, planning for college, and paying for your education.

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<h5>The ABC's of Post-High School Options</h5>
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Apprenticeships 

An apprenticeship combines on-the-job training with job-related instruction. Apprentices learn specific skills necessary to perform the job, gain experience, and eventually earn a nationally recognized certificate or credential. Average wages for an apprentice start at $15 per hour (Source: <a href="https://www.apprenticeship.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">US Department of Labor</a>).

Most apprenticeships are designed for high school graduates or job seekers with a GED; however, some opportunities exist for high school students prior to graduation. Searching and applying for apprenticeships can be similar to looking for a job. 

Community Education &amp; Workforce Training

Idaho’s Workforce Training Network helps retrain Idahoans who have lost their jobs, offers training to help people advance their careers, delivers industry or employer-specific coursework, and offers formal training for apprenticeship programs. 

Workforce Training Centers (WTCs) are housed at each of Idaho’s six technical colleges. While prospective students need to apply for programs, college entrance exam test scores and previous school transcripts are not required for enrollment. 

Four-Year Colleges

While they’re referred to as four-year colleges, Idaho’s public institutions award bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, some of which take more than four years. Students preparing for a career in a profession that requires a bachelor's degree, or want to consider working in academia, the sciences, or law, will get their start at a four-year college. 

Idaho’s colleges and universities require students to have earned at least a 2.6 GPA (though some schools might have higher minimum requirements) and most expect applicants to submit college entrance exam scores. 

Private four-year colleges often have higher minimum requirements for GPA and college entrance exam scores. 

Military

Whether you are interested in aeronautics, laboratory science, communications, finance, health care, or something else, there are opportunities to train for nearly any career within one of the six branches of the U.S. military. And, you’ll learn leadership, analytical, and logistical skills through your service that can benefit your career throughout your life. 

Each branch of the military has its own standard for joining, but all require that you take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and possess a high school diploma or G.E.D. You will also be required to pass a physical exam and fitness test. 

Proprietary Training Schools

Proprietary schools are postsecondary schools that offer courses of study but do not provide, offer, or sell degrees. This includes organizations that provide career-specific training skills, like those needed for truck driving, massage therapy, and lineman jobs. 

While these schools do not often require a minimum GPA or college entrance exams, you may be asked to apply and submit a resume or other documentation of previous work experience or educational attainment, based on the program of study. 

Technical Colleges

Technical Colleges train students for specific careers that do not require bachelor's or other advanced degrees. Programs are available in agriculture, business and marketing, engineering and technology, education, health sciences, family and consumer sciences, and trades and industry and can take anywhere from 6 months to two years to complete. Idaho’s technical schools are located at Idaho State University, Lewis-Clark State College, and the community colleges. 

GPA requirements are similar to those at two-year colleges and college entrance exams are generally not required. 

Two-Year Colleges

Idaho has four community colleges and two universities that also award two-year degrees through their technical schools. These schools award associates degrees in many of the same areas of study (majors) as four-year colleges, from business to liberal arts studies. But, they also provide career training programs that prepare students to enter the workforce with an industry-recognized credential. 

To enroll in a for-credit program at one of Idaho’s community colleges, you will need to have earned your high school diploma with a GPA of at least 2.25. College entrance exam scores are not typically required when applying.  

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Postsecondary Education & Training Options: The Basics

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<h4>Applying to College Made Easy</h4>
In addition to all Idaho public colleges, students can apply to the College of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene University. Visit the <a href="/colleges">Idaho Colleges Directory</a> for information about Idaho’s public institutions.

Apply Idaho can only be used by students who graduate in the Spring of the current year. Students who graduated high school in any other year must refer to each institution’s individual website and apply directly with the school there.

To use Apply Idaho, students will need:
<ul>
 	<li>To know their full legal name</li>
 	<li>To know their permanent address</li>
 	<li>To know their EDUID number (ask a counselor if unsure)</li>
 	<li>To have a personal email address (not associated with a high school)</li>
</ul>
All Idaho seniors (attending public and charter high schools) will find their <a href="https://nextsteps.idaho.gov/resources/direct-admissions-initiative" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Direct Admissions</a> letter within Apply Idaho, once they register and log in. This notification tells them where their grades are a match with Idaho's public college's criteria for admission, based on the State Board-approved benchmark. Students who wish to take advantage of the direct admissions offer can use Apply Idaho to submit application materials to one or more of Idaho’s colleges and universities.

In addition to submitting the application materials, all students are encouraged to fill out the FAFSA, as soon as possible after it opens on October 1.

Apply Idaho

<h4>Get the Skills You Need, Now</h4>
Idaho's community and technical colleges house our state's Workforce Training Centers (WTC), where you can find skill- or industry-specific training to launch or advance your career. WTC program offerings are often driven by industry demand and even designed with help from employers. Thanks to this close partnership between education and business, you can find cutting-edge, in-demand training opportunities at these schools.

Some programs lead to an industry-recognized credential while others offer the option to take a single class on a very finite topic.

For example:
<ul>
 	<li>Within the Health Professions department, you can work towards a CNA or EMT certification, all through the WTC.</li>
 	<li>You can also take a class or two on best-practices in human resources or brush up on your bookkeeping or sales skills with the Professional Development offerings.</li>
</ul>
At all of Idaho's public schools, community education programs also provide opportunities for Idahoans to expand their horizons, pursue hobbies, and in general explore new things through formal training. Community education classes cover everything from bread baking, to forestry, to photography.

Fees for most programs are charged by class taken, rather than by credit hour (like on the degree-seeking side of community colleges) or with set tuition (like at 4-year colleges). If you're considering training that falls under the Trades &amp; Industry category, you'll also want to get more information about how much you might need to spend on tools and supplies. College entrance exams are not required for application to these programs.

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Community Education & Workforce Training Centers

<h4>What's the Difference?</h4>
These seemingly interchangeable terms are all different types of credentials that recognize educational achievement or the demonstration of a certain skill. Earning a credential can help you get a job or take your career to the next level.

Certifications can recognize your completion of coursework, demonstrated proficiency in a subject, and/or ability to perform a skill or task at the industry-standard level. Usually, certifications are awarded by non-governmental agencies like trade associations or industry governing bodies. There are certifications for skills and for products that are used in certain professions (ex: cybersecurity, information technology, design).

Examples: Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Forester, Fire Inspector, Adobe Analytics Developer

Licenses, while also signifying that you have completed the required coursework and perhaps have been awarded a certification to recognize your proficiency in a skill, are awarded by government agencies and are needed to legally work in your practice area. In many cases, these agencies have been tasked through federal, state, or local regulation to oversee certain industries and ensure public safety.

Examples: Architects, Barbers and Cosmetologists, Chiropractors, Engineers, Geologists, Morticians, Massage Therapists

Degrees are awarded by education institutions based on the successful completion of a set number of credit hours, practicum experience completion, and/or capstone project like the defense of a thesis.

Examples: Associates degree, bachelors degree, masters degree, Juris doctorate

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