Going to college is rough. Not the education part, mind you, that's pretty straightforward and we've been doing that for ages.
No, it's the part where everyone has to pay for their education, as the costs of going to college has skyrocketed to the point where it's basically become mandatory to take out massive education loans that'll strangle you until your dying breath in order to attend. That is, unless you have wealthy or just well-off parents. Most kids don't have those parents. Most young adults will be saddled with the debt until their dying day.
But scholarships have become lifelines to reducing or even eliminating those debts. They've become methods of mitigating the harm done by the requirement of higher education. And for those who'll say, "Why not just learn a trade!" Well, those cost money, too. And even those are expensive. But Polaris, the folks who make everything from RZRs to Khaos' to Rangers know that they need skilled workers, which is why the company is putting its money where its mouth is and helping train the next generation of techs by offering new scholarship aid.
Good work, folks!
According to Southeastern Illinois College, Polaris just dropped $20,000 on the educator's powersport technician program, and will award $2,500 to eight students, broken up into $1,250 payments for each semester. The scholarship aid can be used to go toward tuition, tools and equipment, course materials, and a few other odds and ends.
The college states that students must maintain at least a 2.5 GPA and be enrolled in the college's one-year PowerSports Technology certificate program. There's currently a pretty big powersports technician shortage across the country, with one of the barriers to entry being the high price of higher education and training, and this program and scholarship aim to help reduce that gap.
"This scholarship is a tremendous opportunity for our students," said Ralph Boots, the college's PowerSports instructor, adding, "The support from Polaris helps remove financial barriers and gives students the tools they need to succeed in a growing industry. We’re proud to be part of a partnership that invests directly in their future."
In addition to the powersports technician program mentioned above, Southeastern Illinois College is part of Polaris' Technical School Partnership Program, "which provides students with the opportunity to earn industry-recognized certifications while completing the nine-month certificate program." Basically, it's a feeder program that lets students not only learn how to become powersports technicians, but also lets them train to be certified on Polaris machines, too.
Overall, it seems like a solid way of investing in the brand's future, and one that understands the money is often the issue when acquiring the set of skills needed by Polaris and other companies. Again, good work, folks.
