11-07-2025
Trade War? No Problem—If You Run a Trade School
By
In the past 15 years, hundreds of factories with thousands of new jobs have popped up along the Interstate 35 corridor in central Texas. Among them is a $17 billion plant under construction by Samsung Austin Semiconductor in Williamson County, north of the state capital. It won't open until next year, but it's already set off a mini building boom among potential suppliers and other South Korean companies that want to be nearby. Beyond proximity to the new plant, industrial companies are drawn to the region for its cheap land, light regulatory touch, lack of corporate income tax and—increasingly—a local population with the know-how to perform complicated manufacturing processes.
Many of the workers who join that plant (and others in the state) will likely have gone through the labs and classrooms at Texas State Technical College, a vocational school with its flagship campus in Waco, about halfway between Austin and Dallas. There, and at TSTC's 10 other locations, students train for careers running the array of systems that power modern factories and other industrial facilities, often learning on the same equipment they'll find on the job. They can earn a certificate in as few as two semesters and an associate degree in four; others already in the industry sign up for shorter programs to refine their skills midcareer.
