Top Questions to ask Your Solar Training Provider

1. What travel & lodging services can the school bundle in for non-local students?

(The school should host a large enough student population to have routine, standard procedures for hotel, ground transportation, and meals during class, all at costs well below what students would find on their own).

2. How much travel time is necessary from the local airport to the training location?
(Taking another day or two off work just for the drive time is an additional cost working students should factor in. What is the "carbon footprint" of the class if all the students must drive a long way to attend?)

3. How often is the courseware updated?
(The Solar industry changes frequently. Technology, policies and practices update almost monthly, and so our Instructors & Program Managers review curriculum and hands-on labs after every class).

4. For what job roles in the solar industry does the training prepare students?
(Be wary of schools claiming they can turn any kind of student into one specific job role or, even worse, any kind of student into any kind of job role).

5. What kinds of students would NOT benefit from a particular class, and where should they go?
(A program with no enrollment standards or referrals for under-qualified students is not a well-thought-out program).

6. I'm not a Licensed Electrical or General Contractor. Does the school expect me to learn the skills of those trades that relate to solar PV installation even though I won't be licensed to perform those skills?
(A program teaching novice students to perform the work of experienced, licensed professionals is an accident waiting to happen. But a program teaching the knowledge of all steps in a solar design & installation empowers students to work within their skill sets and to know when to contract out work that is beyond their abilities).

7. What is the best solution for my background & goals?
(A school that cannot articulate a clear learning path taking you from where you are now to where you want to be, or that applies a "catch all" mentality to education, may be doing more harm than good).

8. Does the school teach more than one vendor's products?
(A course that teaches installation of only one type of panel, or the use of only one type of site evaluation tool, is not vendor-neutral).

9. Are computers & internet tools covered in class?
(A program without internet-connected computers for each student can only talk about the cool software and web-based tools available for site evaluations, system sizing, and financial estimation).