College, Career, Military Readiness

Welcome to the South Texas ISD College, Career, Military Readiness (CCMR) Newsletter of the 2023-2024 School Year! This newsletter will contain information related to College, Career & Military Readiness.

College Career and Military Readiness (CCMR) is an initiative introduced by the state of Texas to ensure students are well-prepared for success after high school. The program emphasizes the development of essential skills and knowledge required for college education, career readiness, and military service. It focuses on providing students with comprehensive guidance, support, and resources to explore a wide range of post-secondary pathways.

Students and parents will be able to find important information regarding FASFA, Scholarships, Dual Credit, Testing, CTE Programs of Study and mandatory deadlines.

Link: FAFSA

🚨ALERT🚨:

The State Priority Deadline was extended to March 15, 2024 for the 2024-2025 application year by the THECB. This is only for the specified application year and will revert to January 15 for future years. It is important to complete and submit this application with all required documentation to the financial aid office on or before to be considered for the most financial aid possible.

What do I need?

• Verified account username and password (FSA ID)
• Parent or spouse contributor name, date of birth, Social Security number, and email address
• Income and asset information (if required)
• 
  

What is an FSA ID?

An FSA ID consists of an account username and password that you create in order to gain access to the U.S. Department of Education’s online systems, including StudentAid.gov. An FSA ID can also serve as your legal signature when completing electronic documents.

You’ll need your Social Security number (SSN) (if applicable) and your own email address to create an FSA ID.

Beginning with the 2024–25 FAFSA form, all contributors must create their own FSA ID to access and complete their portion of the FAFSA form. Starting December 2023, contributors without an SSN can create an FSA ID.

**Student and parent/guardian will each have to create their own FSA ID

How do I create my FSA ID?

Click here to create your FSA ID

Link: Website Link

The Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) is a free application that collects information to help determine eligibility for state (or institutional) financial aid programs administered by institutions of higher education in the state of Texas.

Students classified as Texas residents who are not eligible to apply for federal financial aid using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are encouraged to complete the TASFA. To review the FAFSA filing requirements, visit studentaid.gov or contact the financial aid office at the institution you plan to attend. The federal application covers federal and state financial aid opportunities. If you meet the FAFSA filing requirements, then you should submit a completed FAFSA. DO NOT COMPLETE BOTH THE FAFSA AND TASFA.

🚨The 2024-2025 Online TASFA is not currently available. To ensure students maximize state financial aid funding, we encourage students to complete the paper TASFA. Please check back for updates.

📝English Paper Copy

• 2024-2025 TASFA Paper Copy and Instructions [PDF]

📝Spanish Paper Copy

• 2024-2025 TASFA Paper Copy and Instructions [PDF] en Español

Engineering is the practice of solving problems through the use of science and mathematics, generally with the goal of making systems more efficient and productive. Modern engineering is a broad discipline with many subfields, which include the design and development of civil infrastructure, machines, electronics, software, materials and energy.

The field of engineering provides professionals with countless opportunities for creative thinking and innovation when creating and refining these systems.

The salary expectations and job outlook for engineers depend on their specialty, in addition to other factors like education and location. In addition to examining some common engineering specialties, this guide discusses general issues of interest to anyone considering a career in engineering.

Civil engineering involves the design, construction, and maintenance of physical structures, including the structural components of buildings as well as bridges, roads, and dams.

Civil engineering is one of the oldest engineering disciplines. The pyramids of Egypt and the qanat canals in Iraq are some of the earliest examples of civil engineering projects. However, this discipline has only been formally taught since the 17th century.

Primarily, civil engineering deals with the conceptualization, design, construction, and maintenance of physical infrastructures that play an integral role in modern society. This could include not only structural elements of buildings but also vital systems like water supply, sewage treatment, transportation networks, and flood management systems.

Civil Engineering Salary and Education Requirements

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median annual salary for civil engineers was about $88,100 in May 2021.
• Entry-level civil engineers typically need a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering or a related field. They also need a government-issued license to provide public services in most jurisdictions.
• Additionally, to offer public services in most jurisdictions, a government-issued professional engineering (PE) license is mandatory, which often necessitates further education, work experience, and passing a rigorous exam.

Aerospace engineers are primarily concerned with the design and development of aircraft and spacecraft. It consists of two major branches, with aeronautical engineering relating to aircraft and astronautical engineering relating to spacecraft. The branch of astronautical engineering has emerged relatively recently with the development of vehicles that operate in outer space. Astronautical engineering is sometimes commonly referred to as “rocket science.” Avionics engineering is a type of aerospace engineering that deals specifically with electronics.

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median annual salary for aerospace engineers was approximately $122,300 in May 2021.
• Entry-level positions for aerospace engineers typically require at least a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering or a related field.

Mechanical engineers design, develop and oversee the manufacture of mechanical and thermal devices and systems. It’s one of the major branches of engineering and has many areas of specialization. Mechanical engineers routinely apply principles of mathematics and physics to design, manufacture and maintain mechanical systems. In addition to mechanics, core areas of study for these engineers include materials science, structural analysis, thermodynamics and electricity. Modern mechanical engineers also make regular use of computer-aided design (CAD) to design machines.

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median salary for mechanical engineers was about $95,300 per year in May 2021.
• Entry-level positions for mechanical engineers typically require at least a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and may also require specialization in a particular area.

Electrical engineers are involved in the design, development and application of devices that use electricity. It emerged as a separate engineering discipline during the late 19th century, coinciding with the development of commercial devices such as electrical power generators, telegraphs and telephones.

Today, electrical engineering has many branches due to the specialization this discipline requires, including computer engineering, power engineering, electronics engineering, and optical engineering. These disciplines often overlap, resulting in electrical engineering and electronics engineering being used interchangeably in some cases. In addition to formal educational requirements, electrical engineers often need government-issued licenses to practice their trade.

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median salary for electrical engineers was about $101,800 per year in May 2021.
• Entry-level positions in electrical engineering typically require at least an electrical engineering bachelor’s degree. Individual employers may also require practical experience in the form of internships or cooperative programs.

Software engineers apply engineering principles to the design, development and maintenance of software. They may also be known as programmers, although this term fails to convey the role’s engineering approach to software development. Software engineers seek to improve the software life cycle through engineering-based techniques for assessment, especially performance measurement. They also rely heavily on software configuration management to systematically control configuration changes, which helps maintain the configuration’s integrity. Software versioning is also a key aspect of software engineering.

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the median annual salary for software engineers was approximately $109,000 in May 2021.
• Entry-level positions in software engineering typically require a software engineering bachelor’s degree or a degree in a field like computer science or information technology. Some employers prefer to hire software engineers with a master’s degree.

📚The University of Texas at Austin🤘🐂

The Cockrell School of Engineering has seven academic departments that administer the school's top-ranked undergraduate and graduate programs, offering bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. Texas Engineering is also affiliated with several interdisciplinary degree, dual-degree and cross-institutional degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. As a top ranked engineering school with the No. 1 program in Texas, the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has been a global leader in technology advancement and engineering education for over a century.

Major companies with Austin campuses, such as Dell, National Instruments, Apple, IBM, Samsung, Google and many others, continue to recruit Cockrell School students at a remarkable rate, launching thousands of successful careers and developing Texas Engineers into industry leaders.

Additional Graduate Programs

The Cockrell School also offers the following interdisciplinary M.S. and Ph.D. programs that include faculty members, support and research opportunities in several academic departments:

• Engineering Management
  
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering (online)
• Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
• Software Engineering

📚 Stanford University

Stanford Engineering offers 16 defined undergraduate majors, plus the option to design your own. Coterm and graduate programs are offered in all engineering departments. Faculty have developed blended courses that involve interactive learning in addition to traditional lectures, as well as hands-on opportunities for students to take courses in the environments best suited to their learning styles.

Link: https://engineering.stanford.edu/students-academics/academics

📚Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

The MIT School of Engineering (SoE) is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. SoE has eight academic departments and two interdisciplinary institutes. The School grants Bachelor of Science (SB), Master of Engineering (MEng), Master of Scienced (SM), engineer's degrees, and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or Doctor of Sciewnce (ScD) degrees.

Programs of Study:

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Chemical Engineering

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

• Materials Science and Engineering

• Nuclear Science and Engineering

• Biological Engineering

• Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

• Mechanical Engineering

Link: https://engineering.mit.edu/departments/

Link to P-Tech Program

South Texas ISD is excited to introduce Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) at Science Academy for the 2023-2024 school year. P-TECH is an innovative school model that allows students to receive curriculum focused on workforce needs, and develop partnerships while obtaining credentials, certificates and an earn college credit hours.

Students participating in P-TECH can:

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• Earn a high school diploma and a certificate in the area of computer programming & software development at NO COST
• Graduate with up to 56 credit hours transferable to any Texas supported college or university
• Gain work experience through career readiness, job shadowing, internships, or job training programs

The field of application development is relatively new, so many of the best software developers got started over the last decade. Therefore, the knowledge barriers to becoming a software developer are less steep than in many other high-paid professions where master’s degrees and decades of experience are necessary to get a job.

Instead, software developers are mostly hired on the basis of the skills that they have. You can learn development skills on your own through online classes or by taking part in complex projects. You can also get additional career benefits by choosing a major that complements software development, such as engineering, entrepreneurship, or cyber security. Consequently, aspiring developers can choose between a broad range of majors when beginning their educational journey.

• 📚Computer science: Computer science is one of the most popular degree options for aspiring software developers. A computer science degree can teach you about many of the subjects and skills you regularly use as a software developer, such as computational logic, computer mathematics and both front- and back-end software development.

• 📚Software engineering: Software engineering is another popular option for students who want to become software developers. Studying software engineering gives students a technical understanding of how computers and software codes operate.

• 📚Information technology: Information technology programs teach students about many of the systems and devices that support software applications. These systems and devices include networks, routers, servers, desktop computers and tablets.

• 📚Software development: Some academic institutions offer degrees specifically for software development. However, these types of programs aren't as common as those for computer science or software engineering.

• 📚Data science: Data science programs teach students about how to build and maintain data analysis programs and systems. This type of degree program can teach aspiring software developers many of the technical skills they need if they want to develop various operating systems.

• 📚Mathematics: Careers in software development require professionals to have strong mathematical abilities. A mathematics degree can teach students about mathematics related to computer programming.

Depending on the employer, software development requires either an associate or a bachelor's degree. A software developer will have a bachelor's degree, typically in computer information systems, software engineering, IT or mathematics.

A degree in computer science is usually accepted since the two fields are related. Aspiring software developers should shift their focus on classes related to software building to have a stable stepping stone to their occupation.

Even though code writing is not essential in software development, students must have a strong background in computer programming. This is a skill that could be gained through the software development program.

Software developers also require additional skills related to their industry, and should keep up to date with the new tools and languages. For example, developers in the banking sector should have basic knowledge of finance so that they can understand the banking dynamics.

The annual salary for software developers varies based on their exact job title and specialization. Here are the average salaries for some types of software development positions:

• 💰Back-end developer: $115,522 per year

• 💰Front-end developer: $102,454 per year

• 💰Full-stack developer: $106,582 per year

• 💰Application developer: $80,567 per year

• 💰Mobile developer: $119,835 per year

It's important to remember that individual salaries for all types of developers can depend on other factors too. These factors include your geographic location, the industry you work in, your years of experience and your training or credentials.

1. Auburn University

A public research and land-grant university, Auburn University is home to more than 30,000 students spread out among dozens of majors. It’s ranked as a Best Value School by U.S. News & World Report, a designation that makes sense given the high quality of this school’s programs. Auburn is also home to one of the best software engineering colleges in the country.

The bachelor’s degree in software engineering at Auburn prepares learners for professional careers as software engineers well as graduate study. The program combines a unique and personally-tailored blend of computer science theory and software engineering methodology.

Website: https://eng.auburn.edu/csse/#gsc.tab=0

2. San Jose State University

Located in downtown San Jose, San Jose State University is a large public university with more than 145 different bachelor’s and master’s degrees and 108 concentrations. As one of the leading suppliers of alumni to Silicon Valley technology firms, it makes sense that earning a bachelor’s in software engineering from San Jose State University is a smart choice.

This software engineering school is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET and covers all topics of data science, including:

• Data ethics
• Data visualization
• Data security
• Data storage

Website: https://www.sjsu.edu/bsse/

Transferable teamwork skills include:

• Relationship building

• Active listening

• Collaboration

• Self-awareness

• Conflict resolution

A clear vision for districts and schools to develop and implement an individual planning system within their comprehensive school counseling program. and schools to develop and implement an individual planning system within their comprehensive school counseling program.

District Website: www.stisd.net

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