A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

A Parallel Postsecondary Universe: The Certification System in Information Technology - October 2000

What It Costs

41. Where there is a market, there is a business, and industry certification in IT is no exception. It doesn't come free, and the costs of preparation for certification vary widely by the source and delivery method of training, and the country in which the training takes place. Table 5 indicates the typical range of both advertised (by the for-profits) and computed (from catalogs) tuition for instructor-led preparation programs in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The ranges exclude out-lyers (for example, there is one secular provider that offers different forms of MCSE preparation with prices from $3,950 to $7,950 depending on a student's background and sponsorship).

42. These estimates are considerably lower than what it would cost you, starting from scratch, to acquire the requisite knowledge and skills prior to a special certification preparation program. A 10-day instructor-led first course in Java, direct from the source (Sun Microsystems), is priced at $1,600; a 5-day Java2 course for those who have either passed the introductory course or who can write basic programs in C or C++ is priced at $2,000 in instructor-led format or $1,000 on a self-paced CD-ROM. There are three more courses in the foundation Java sequence when you take it through Sun. The bottom line is about $7,500 (and that's cheap compared with Martinez' high-end estimate of tabula rasa-to-Certified Internet Webmaster at $20,330, including examination fees, self-study manuals and CDs).

43. In contrast, the Ziff-Davis on-line ZD University/SmartPlanet offers 23 self-study Java modules for a total of $658.90; the on-line SmartForce offers 15 Java modules (that it estimates take four hours each to complete) for a total of $1,875; and at Learning Tree one can apply a $4,995 four-course training packet to a 17-day instructor-lead Java sequence that can be worth nine college credits through ACE's service.

Do you get what you pay for? Unlike such questions in higher education, the variables one would array in an evaluation include job experience, the nature and intensity of self-study, prior formal course work, and the usual intangibles involved in determining the worth of a class-based experience. There is no clear answer because the populations are inaccessible (one cannot conduct research or evaluations in the Parallel Universe in the same ways as are available in the traditional higher education sector).

44. Financial aid in the IT certification preparation world is available principally in two forms. First and foremost, by employer sponsorship. In 1999, Novell surveyed 135 North American companies that employed Novell-certified staff and found mean per head direct sponsorship costs (training classes, travel, testing) of $3,121 and indirect costs (lost employee time) of $1,933. Microsoft's 1997 salary survey of its professional certificate holders revealed that employers picked up the full preparation tab for 57 percent of the survey respondents (but a third of the respondents had footed the whole bill themselves). Despite year-to-year volatility in this survey's reported mean costs of certification (instruction, examination fees, books, tutorial CDs, etc.), the proportion of respondents reporting "full-boat support" from employers has been consistently in the 50-60 percent range. But these are limited hints: no one is tracking the full universe of certification preparation in terms of tuition reimbursement or contract learning paid directly by employers to providers. Since employers in other countries are included among the sponsors, and since some of the certifications originate in other countries (SAP in Germany; Baan in the Netherlands), estimates are even more elusive. The National Center for Education Statistics' National Household Education Survey is insufficiently detailed to get at this information for U.S. citizens.

The second potential source of support, in the U.S., lies in the new Hope and Lifetime Learning tax credits, but it will be some years before we know precisely who has used these tax credits and for what.

[The Providers][Certification Agents]