BRAC jobs are on the way, but we're all going to have to get a lot smarter

A story in today's Baltimore Examiner newspaper says that a good portion of the jobs that are coming to Aberdeen Proving Ground are going to require workers who have more than a bachelor's degree.

"Nearly 2,200 positions coming to Aberdeen from Fort Monmouth, N.J., require either a doctoral degree or several years of higher education beyond a bachelor’s."

Unfortunately the colleges within fewer than 30 miles of APG, don't offer much in the way of much higher education. The story says Harford and Cecil community colleges are working with Towson State and the University of Maryland to come up with ways that students up here won't have to travel too far to get their degrees.

"Harford Community College has started 22 “two plus two” transfer programs that allow students to combine two years at Harford with two years at Towson, said Vice President for Instruction Luba Chliwniak, and negotiations are in the works for another 10 to 12.

"Towson University also is offering undergraduate courses on-campus at Harford and at the Higher Education and Technology Center in Aberdeen, and the college is considering offering more Towson undergraduate programs when 100 acres of additional campus land is developed, Chliwniak said."

Otherwise, these new students are going to have to compete with people like my dear cousin who heads from her Forest Hill home to Towson hours before her first class to make sure she'll be able to score a parking space in enough time to make it to her classes start.

It seems the Harford Community College president James F. LaCalle has been giving this all some thought recently. He mentions BRAC several times in his Major Initiatives for 2007 report found on the school's website.