Along with the price of gas, a loaf of bread and the skyrocketing price for health care, there is another thing to add to the long and growing list of items that many Americans will be faced with having to pony up more to pay for, the cost of education.
Unfortunately, unless you're one of those middle-income families with a student already enrolled in a few of the nation's priciest Ivy League institutions that has announced free tuition, there is not much relief ahead on the post-secondary education front. However, the Carlsbad Convention & Visitors Bureau, thanks to the support of Supervisor Bill Horn, hopes to soon provide some fiscal relief to some hopeful scholarship recipients.
Hospitality is a huge industry that provides employment for tens of thousands in San Diego County, from hotels and resorts to Sea World and the zoo, as well as dining in the Gaslamp Quarter. Thirty miles up the coast in Carlsbad, where the coveted transient occupancy tax is only second to our big city to the south, we enjoy a healthy hospitality industry that continues to provide one of the three legs of our local economy. Throughout 2007, economic indicators in our region identified hospitality as the leading industry cluster that, in a time when people are losing jobs, was actually providing jobs to willing and able individuals.
Great careers are available in hospitality and tourism management. One road traveled in that pursuit runs through campuses throughout our country that offer bachelor's degrees, such as those offered at some of the more recognizable institutions like UNLV's William H. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and The School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University.
Four-year academic training also can be achieved locally through San Diego State University's Hospitality and Tourism Management program, as well as a two-year associate program offered at MiraCosta College. But none of this comes cheap, which is why the bureau has partnered with the county to provide some tuition assistance.
We believe the best way to support an industry that has given us so much is to give back in ways that will support this industry's future leaders, who will drive hospitality and tourism to higher levels in the years to come. The county's recent award of $2,000 to the bureau for scholarship funding, together with an additional $2,000 provided by the bureau, will help structure a meaningful scholarship program for students who reside in Carlsbad or the county's 5th District, and who either attend or have been accepted to one of the many post-secondary schools for industry-related training.
Soon, the bureau will announce these scholarships and make a major push to find interest in our local high schools and with those already attending SDSU and MiraCosta College. Work already is getting underway for an October event in Carlsbad that will recognize those selected for scholarships, as well as others who are already working in the hospitality, tourism and visitor services industries. Stay tuned; there will be more to follow.
Unfortunately, unless you're one of those middle-income families with a student already enrolled in a few of the nation's priciest Ivy League institutions that has announced free tuition, there is not much relief ahead on the post-secondary education front. However, the Carlsbad Convention & Visitors Bureau, thanks to the support of Supervisor Bill Horn, hopes to soon provide some fiscal relief to some hopeful scholarship recipients.
Hospitality is a huge industry that provides employment for tens of thousands in San Diego County, from hotels and resorts to Sea World and the zoo, as well as dining in the Gaslamp Quarter. Thirty miles up the coast in Carlsbad, where the coveted transient occupancy tax is only second to our big city to the south, we enjoy a healthy hospitality industry that continues to provide one of the three legs of our local economy. Throughout 2007, economic indicators in our region identified hospitality as the leading industry cluster that, in a time when people are losing jobs, was actually providing jobs to willing and able individuals.
Great careers are available in hospitality and tourism management. One road traveled in that pursuit runs through campuses throughout our country that offer bachelor's degrees, such as those offered at some of the more recognizable institutions like UNLV's William H. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and The School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University.
Four-year academic training also can be achieved locally through San Diego State University's Hospitality and Tourism Management program, as well as a two-year associate program offered at MiraCosta College. But none of this comes cheap, which is why the bureau has partnered with the county to provide some tuition assistance.
We believe the best way to support an industry that has given us so much is to give back in ways that will support this industry's future leaders, who will drive hospitality and tourism to higher levels in the years to come. The county's recent award of $2,000 to the bureau for scholarship funding, together with an additional $2,000 provided by the bureau, will help structure a meaningful scholarship program for students who reside in Carlsbad or the county's 5th District, and who either attend or have been accepted to one of the many post-secondary schools for industry-related training.
Soon, the bureau will announce these scholarships and make a major push to find interest in our local high schools and with those already attending SDSU and MiraCosta College. Work already is getting underway for an October event in Carlsbad that will recognize those selected for scholarships, as well as others who are already working in the hospitality, tourism and visitor services industries. Stay tuned; there will be more to follow.