Taylor Hobbs of Mont Vernon received a $2,000 scholarship from the New Hampshire Automotive Education Foundation (NHAEF). He attends Lakes Region Community College, where he is pursuing an associate’s degree in automotive technology through the Toyota T-TEN program.
Taylor is interning and working at IRA Toyota of Manchester.
His grandfather was a GM master technician “back in the day,” and Taylor’s goal is become a master technician like him.
An auto tech career is high tech with high wages and low tuition at NH’s Community Colleges. Techs in NH make $58,000 on average and there are over 400 jobs that need to be filled. NH’s community colleges offer 2-year associates degrees in auto tech for roughly $20,000 including the cost of tools. Scholarships like NHAEF’s lower that cost even more. Auto tech students can leave school with no or low debt if they take advantage of paid internships, as well as summer full-time employment.
The NHAEF has awarded $315,500 in scholarships since its inception. It is a not-for-profit affiliate of the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association (NHADA), a statewide trade association with a staff of 32 professionals, representing approximately 500 businesses in the motor vehicle industry that employs thousands throughout NH. NHADA members run the entire gamut of the motor vehicle industry, including new-car and -truck dealers; motorcycle and recreational vehicle dealers; farm, power, and construction equipment dealers; used-vehicle dealers and recyclers; repair shops, body shops, and parts stores; and other companies that have ties with the motor vehicle industry. Annual retail sales for all members are in excess of $3.8 billion and account for over 24 percent of all retail sales in New Hampshire. More information can be found at www.nhada.com. NHADA also includes affiliate organizations: the NHADA Workers’ Compensation Trust; NHAD Services, Inc., and NHAD Insurance Trust.