I'll talk about NASA in another post.

Let me offer an example of myself concerning training.

I got my first job in my industry (software engineering) at the age of 14 in a work-study program. It was 1976. Because of my 'knack' for computers, I was able to make a career of it. For a while, I could practically write my own ticket (in the mid to late 1980s).

I sat on my laurels a bit much and when 2004 roleld around, disaster struck. I was laid off and my skill set was a bit out of touch.

Once I realized I wasn't going to immediately find work, I looked at some training - one ad in particular looked like it was for a job that offerred training. I was a little off in my reading of the ad, but I signed up for the 3 months program anyway. They offerred financing of the $18,000 tuition. It was a risk, but I took it. They apparently had a verison of the training that said you would get free tuition but you had to work at whatever job they assigned you to for 2 years (they would basically be acting as a contracing house) but they clearly didn't want to operated that way. I don't know how many people were there under that arrangement.

I updated my skills, went to job fairs and they even had job placement skill help - teaching you how to write a resume and how to interview if you didn't know how.

Working against me was the fact that I had to commute to their campus - and they were in New Jersey while I lived in New Hampshire. I ended up renting a room in a house and commuting weekly. Because of this, when the training was over, it was still difficult to find work. It took almost another year before I found a contract.

When I *did* get back to work, I parleyed my training with my 'legacy' experience and that contract led to another one which lasted over a year and led to a third - with my rate increasing each time. When my 3rd contract was cut, I had another contract within 48 hours - thanks to my re-training and usage of those skills. That contract was eventually converted to the full-time position I have now.

I financed this myself. If there were more employers who could operated programs like I described above - training in exchange for a contract to work - we would be doing ourselves a great favor. Think of it like baseball - the major league teams bring someone up from the minors (training) and they have 'control' over that player for 4 years at which time the player has earned free-agency.

There should be programs that allow this sort of thing because not everyone has the resources that I had to take out the loan for the tuition, room and board. Paying it back in kind with employment serves several purposes - paying back the investment while the 'student' gains experience in the field.

But that would take thinking of nature lasting more than just the next fiscal quarter. It would take long-term INVESTMENT-style thinking.

EDIT: I should clarify - by "financed this myself", I should specify that I went out and got an education loan that I have since paid back when I refinanced my house.