WANADA Offers Tuition-Free Training for Automotive Students

NOVA has partnered with Washington Area New Automobile Dealer Association’s (WANADA) Automobile Dealer Education Institute to offer training to entry level technicians looking to work at partnering dealerships.

Automobile Dealer Education Institute (ADEI) student tuition is paid for during the two-year program through last dollar scholarships funded by both the sponsoring dealership and WANADA.  WANADA also supplies a coordinator to recruit new students, find sponsoring dealership placement opportunities and act as the NOVA to WANADA liaison.  This year WANADA and sponsoring dealerships have supplied $51,500 in tuition, book and tool stipend costs. This amount is set to double next year when the second cohort of students begins in the fall.

While working at their sponsoring dealership, students come in one day per week to complete rigorous courses tailored to the ADEI program. This allows students to attend school part-time to earn their Automotive Career Studies Certificates in addition to two extra automotive classes toward their degree. 

Joe Koch, Vice President for WANADA, says he has a “sincere appreciation for the great work we’ve been doing together. Our burgeoning partnership to house WANADA ADEI’s Technician Training Program at your Alexandria Campus has, thus far, been a remarkable success.”

One of the best benefits of the program is that it often serves ALICE students who aren’t eligible for financial aid and don’t have time to complete courses while working multiple jobs. One of our star students Bryanna is one of many students who fit into this broad category. 

Bryanna always had a passion for cars but had a difficult time breaking into the industry and didn’t have the resources to attend classes. After joining the program, the WANADA coordinator Erik Falk was able to find her the best apprenticeship out of all the students at Fair Oaks Chrysler Dodge Jeep where she works directly with the shop foreman on diesel and hybrid electric vehicles. Fair Oaks Chrysler Dodge Jeep is a forward-thinking dealership that plans to train her to become a dedicated hybrid diesel and electric vehicle specialist technician. Her instructor Laura Garcia said, “Bryanna is one of our brightest students who excels in all environments and all automotive areas.  I believe she’ll be one of the first female shop foremen in our area.”

The automotive department has been proud to work alongside all the sponsoring dealerships at Beyer Auto Group, Ourisman Toyota, Audi of Arlington, Mercedes Benz of Alexandria, Mercedes Benz of Tysons and others who are supporting our students.

Submitted by:
Laura Garcia-Moreyra, Auto Technology, LGarciaMoreyra@nvcc.edu