Career Colleges » Texas » City of Beaumont
Looking for accredited career colleges, technical schools, and universities in Beaumont, Texas. Each degree from a Beaumont, Texas Career College, a post-secondary for-profit institution, offers an education with an in-demand career field.
At career colleges in Texas, you typically don't take general education classes in core subjects such as English and math. Instead, you focus on career-related courses.
To many, oil geysers are synonymous with Texas, and the city of Beaumont was the site of just such a geyser in 1901. The explosion of the Lucas Gusher led to the establishment of major oil fields, and to this day the city is one of the hubs of the worldwide petroleum industry. However, Beaumont is not just an oil town, but is a rapidly diversifying economy where recent college graduates could likely find career opportunities.
Beaumont's Lamar College is part of the Texas state university system, and enrolls about 9,400 undergraduates. One of the state's fastest growing schools, according to the school website, Lamar occupies a 270-acre urban campus. Despite being a large school on a large campus, it boasts a student-faculty ratio of 23:1, and more than 90 percent of its classes have between one and 49 students. The most popular majors are business/management, multi-/interdisciplinary studies and engineering. Its 2011-12 tuition and fees ran to $7,630 for in-state students and $17,020 for out-of-state students. This is about average for Texas public universities, which according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating board, will have average tuition and fees of $7,360 (in-state) and $17,659 (out-of-state) for 2012-13. The Lamar Institute of Technology offers two-year programs preparing students for the workforce or continuing higher education in fields such as allied health, business technologies and public service. Beaumont is also home to one of the six Texas campuses of Vista College, which offers career and vocational training in subjects such as health care and technology.
The petrochemical industry has long been the cornerstone of Beaumont's economy, and it continues to thrive. However, as the city's 2011 financial report demonstrated, the local economy is diversifying, adding more jobs in the services and energy sectors. Business communications company the West Corporation and energy engineering firm ENGlobal are both among the city's top employers. Within the petrochemical sector, big names include ExxonMobil and Chevron. The city's port - which is the second-largest U.S. military port in the world - is also one of the area's key employers, generating more than $129 million in personal income for residents of southeastern Texas. Goodyear Tire & Rubber and Conn Appliances also appear on the 2011 list of Beaumont's principal employers. The 2011 mean annual wage in Beaumont was $40,820, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and mining/logging/construction and professional business services were among the employment sectors to see yearly growth in 2011.