Dr. Whirl, president of Augusta Technical College, details their plans to dramatically expand their automotive training program, including a new auto body and collision repair program.
Demand for collision repair, refinish and general automotive technicians continues to outstrip the supply of technicians across the U.S. Expanding the supply of technicians is a critical need for collision repair facilities of all sizes that have rebounded to record levels of production since the pandemic.
In our video interview embedded below, Dr. Jermaine Whirl, president of Augusta Technical College in August, Ga., details the efforts his college is making to expand its automotive program from its current 10,000 sq. ft. location to a new 65,000 sq. ft. space in a former auto dealership.
Dr. Whirl explains that in 2022, when the auto dealer closed the location, it contacted Augusta Technical College because of the need for trained technicians.
“They called the college and said, ‘Hey, would you all be interested in taking this facility and then doing training, because we just have a great shortage of technicians?’” said Whirl. “My college foundation gave me the green light to acquire that property, so we’re using it and repurposing it to do a number of different programs, from basic automotive, ICE to EV to hybrid to heavy-, medium-, light-duty diesel. We’re also doing autonomous vehicles, a business degree for automotive dealers, and then more importantly, a program that was desperately needed and still is right now, auto body and collision.”
Whirl explained that the demand for technicians is large in the local market but can serve neighboring areas as well.
“The second-largest city in the State of Georgia, right behind Atlanta, is Augusta. In our region we have over 600,000 residents. We have a thriving military community here at Fort Eisenhower. We have national labs that are protecting our uranium, our plutonium, and of course a very robust healthcare medical district in Augusta, and of course, cyber education,” said Whirl. “One of the things that we pretty much quickly unearthed was that there were no auto body, auto collision programs within a 75-mile radius of our college. We have all of these different shops, large and small, that need technicians to repair vehicles, and that talent is non-existent.”
Dr. Whirl explained that the college has not had a collision program for many decades, so the return of the program will help the industry locally and in neighboring areas of South Carolina.
“We have not had a collision program for over 40 years, and so the urgency is there not only on the Georgia side, but we are also a bordering community to South Carolina. We have many communities on the South Carolina side, past Columbia to Greenville, South Carolina, that do not have access to auto body, auto collision technicians,” said Whirl. “We had a meeting with basically all the local dealers and all the local shops, and they were like, ‘You’ve got to add this program in.’ Out of that 65,000-square-feet building, over 10,000 square feet is just dedicated to auto body, auto collision, which is desperately needed.”
Beyond training college students, the program will also support local high schools that will send students to the program, as Dr. Whirl explained, “That’s going to give you an influx of about 300 to 400 students physically on campus. The beauty of that is you get these high school kids that are in 10th, 11th or 12th grade, and by the time they graduate high school, they can not only get their high school diploma, but they can also walk out with a certification and college credentials at the same time.”
According to Whirl, the project is relying on private funding sources to complete the expansion of the program.
“Our project is all privately funded. We’re not getting any federal support at this time, and we’re not getting any state support. Any dollars that we can have that goes towards technology, that goes towards equipment, tooling, those things are very much welcomed. Then of course, the facility itself, it takes upgrades and all of those things, electrical, wiring, all of those things, the hard structural things,” said Whirl.
The school is looking to support from local industry and donations of money, as well as tools and equipment to make the program a success.
More information about funding opportunities is available from the Augusta Tech Foundation at 706-771-4023 or foundation@augustatech.edu.