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Tommy Scott III, executive director of the LA Workforce Commission’s River Parishes Business and Career Solutions Center, urges locals to take advantage of tuition assistance for programs at the RPCC Reserve campus.

Partial or full funding is available for the following programs: HVAC, industrial maintenance, instrumentation, electrical helper, process technology, medical assistant and practical nursing.

“We try to look at everything on a case-by-case basis. We provide assistance for programs, but it does depend on the duration of the program. If it’s longer than a year, we ask for the student to fund the first half of their curriculum,” Scott said.

“The only reason we do that is that we would like our students to have some skin in the game on the longer programs. We would hate for somebody to start and then quit and not really worry about it because they didn’t come out of pocket for anything, so we want them to kind of invest in themselves upfront, and then we’ll assist on the second half for the longer programs.”

The LA Workforce Commission generally provides financial assistance up front for short-term programs lasting one year or less.

“We need to stop stigmatizing people who don’t attend four-year universities as failures because that is completely false,” Scott said. “You can go to those community colleges and learn a trade and receive apprenticeship and internship opportunities and get hired before your graduation date. Not only can you get a stellar education and an impeccable certification, but also a lucrative career opportunity all before you leave that campus. We just need residents to take advantage of it so we can help those individuals really set themselves on a positive track in life.”

Program applications can be completed at the front desk of the RPCC campus located at 181 REGALA Park Road in Reserve. Prospective students should bring an ID, social security card and birth certificate.