It’s no secret that the Department of Defense is helping to build San Antonio’s cyber security infrastructure to be a national hub to combat cyber threats.
The city is home to the 16th Air Force, known as Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which now all have specific cyber defense and investigation teams, according to the San Antoni Report.
In the last few years, the DoD has been heavily recruiting students. On Friday, March 8, at 2 pm, DoD Counterintelligence and Security Agency representatives will meet with the NVC Cybersecurity Club to answer questions about working for them, the hiring process, the background check process, security clearances, and more.
In 2022, NVC and its sister colleges were part of the multimillion-dollar Military City USA grant. One of the grant’s goals is to target STEM students in underserved communities and give preference to veterans.
NVC is well positioned to help the DoD’s efforts to shore up its staff. This fall semester, pending approval, NVC will debut its Bachelor of Applied Technology (BAT) degree in Cloud Computing. NVC students currently enrolled in NVC’s Information Security Analyst program will nicely transition into the new bachelor’s degree program.
This grant is perfect timing since it will provide students with scholarships, internships, and competition fees for cybersecurity competitions. The grant says many students in the STEM fields will be considered. Students enrolled in at least 12 credit hours at one of the Alamo Colleges can apply for DoD funding that will help them pay for a bachelor’s degree. Some of the eligible STEM fields include Cognitive, Neural, and Behavioral Sciences; Computer and Computational Sciences; Computer Engineering; Cybersecurity; Electrical Engineering; Environmental Sciences and Geosciences.
Matthew Burch, NVC Cybersecurity Program Coordinator, said this is a great time for students who want to go into cybersecurity careers.
“Students soon will have an affordable option to earn a bachelor’s degree at NVC and the DoD is making sure students don’t have to worry about high costs with their funding.”
Texas is number three in the nation for information security analyst employment levels. National salaries for an entry-level cyber security analyst with an associate’s degree is $66,286 – $69,879, according to Salary.com. And for students who continue to a bachelor’s degree, the entry-level wage in the Alamo region is $75,017. The career field is expected to grow 32% (much faster than average), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the last year, Cyber Seek reports over 50,000 cybersecurity online job listings for Texas.
