Interpreter Preparation Programs

With only a year to go in my Bachelor of Arts degree in Deaf Studies/American Sign Language, I have just begun researching interpreter training programs.  I am most interested in the top three programs in California - American River College, Ohlone College, and Pierce College.  I have also heard good things about Santa Rosa Junior College.

American River College (ARC) is here in Sacramento.  It is the closest program to my parents and my boyfriend.  Their Interpreter Preparation Program (IPP) is an A.A. degree program and consists of fifty units.  Students who are accepted begin the program each August, and applications are due the second Friday of April that same year.  Acceptance into the program is based on an interview/screening program after the application is submitted.  The tuition fees for the Fall 2010 semester are twenty six dollars per unit.

Ohlone College in Fremont, CA is about three hours and twenty minutes away from my parents and an hour and forty five minutes from my boyfriend.  Students in the IPP program work with Deaf mentors as well as RID-certified interpreters to gain skills and experience.  Ohlone College has a large Deaf student population and is in close proximity with the California School for the Deaf.  The application for the IPP is due sometime in the spring, and the screening process takes place in June.  The A.A. degree and the Certificate of Achievement programs require fifty one to fifty five units for completion and include two courses on developing small businesses.  Fall 2010 tuition for Ohlone College is the same as ARC, twenty six dollars per unit.

Pierce College has a forty-nine-unit American Sign Language/Interpreting Program that is an A.A. degree.  It is located in Woodland Hills, CA, only about six miles from the National Center on Deafness at CSUN.  Pierce College is the farthest of these schools from my hometown and where I am now, at seven hours and forty five minutes from my parents and about six hours from Sacramento.  It is, however, very close to my sister, brother-in-law, and little niece on the way!

The ASL/English Interpreter Education Program at Santa Rosa Junior College is an A.A. degree and requires the completion of fifty two units.  Tuition for Fall 2010 is, again, twenty six dollars per unit.  Santa Rosa is a three and a half hour drive to Paradise, CA and just under two hours to Sacramento.

Besides this basic information, I know that I wouldn't mind living in the areas of ARC and Pierce.  I have never been to Fremont or Santa Rosa.  Living expenses would be more costly near Ohlone and Pierce.

A trusted and respected professor at Sac State gave me the following list of questions to answer in deciding which interpreting program to attend:
1. After students graduate from that program, how many go straight to work?
2. How many pass the National Interpreter Certification (NIC) written and the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) right after graduation?
3. What type of post support will the college give you?
4. How much business planning is built into their programs? (You will most likely free lance at some point so you need to know how to run your own company.)
5. What type of mentoring program do they have during and after?

So...it looks like my next step is to find some contact people from these programs, ask them questions, and decide which ones I want to visit.