Ford scholarship boosts auto tech careers with specialized program in face of shortage

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01-04-2025

Eduardo Villasenor likes to take things apart and put them back together. It's one of the reasons he's pursuing a career as a car mechanic rather than his initial interest: mechanical engineer.
Villasenor, 27, learned he can earn about $100,000 a year as a vehicle service technician and have more hands-on experience with both the car and its owner than he could as an engineer.
'I would rather help others," Villasenor said. "There are a lot of people who don't know their vehicle well and are looking for a genuine mechanic who is looking out for their best interests and wants to keep them safe on the road.'
Villasenor, who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, started studying the trade at Washtenaw Community College last summer. Then he won a $5,000 scholarship through the Auto Tech Scholarship program, which is funded by Ford dealers and Ford Philanthropy, a nonprofit funded by Ford Motor Co. The nonprofit network of supporting technicians called TechForce Foundation selects the scholarship recipients and distributes the money.
The Auto Tech Scholarship program launched in 2023 with $1 million. Last year, it doubled to $2 million and it has doubled again this year to $4 million. Between now and the end of September, it will award 800 people $5,000 scholarships to study to become service technicians.
The program is available across 42 states and for students attending 600 eligible schools. In addition to tuition assistance, the scholarship money can cover daily expenses such as transportation, child care and tools needed for class.
"There's a huge need for technicians, north of 400,000 technicians are needed by 2028. So it's not a Ford problem. It's an industry problem," said Alex Shelton, Ford Philanthropy education portfolio manager. "So we teamed up with our Ford dealers across the country to say, 'How do we help solve this problem?' We think this program can do that. It's more than just a scholarship. It's an opportunity to help get students through school with the scholarship funding, but into their careers as well through a dealership.'
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Shelton said the first year of the scholarship, which is given out on a first-come, first-served basis for those who meet the qualifications, the program had about 350 applicants for 200 scholarships. In year two, it had over 1,100 applicants for 400 scholarships.
Earlier this month, Villasenor started working as a technician apprentice at Gene Butman Ford in Ypsilanti. The dealership has 16 technicians, but would like to have 20, said Tom Butman, general manager at the dealership that his grandfather opened in 1957.
The problem is Butman has a hangup when it comes to recruiting people.
'I don't like to poach technicians," Butman said. "I am not the type of person who wants to take somebody from another business. That happens in our industry a lot. I'd rather build somebody up from a lower level to a higher level and create loyalty and give them guidance. I like to find good, young, driven people that want to come into our shop and assimilate.'
Villasenor started interviewing with Butman for a spot at the dealership as a paid apprentice in February. He came recommended by some WCC instructors. Butman hired him, and now he has big ambitions for Villasenor's future.
'The overall goal is for him to go through the process, become a master technician, be compensated really well, become part of our community and really be able to be there to mentor others in the future," Butman said.
Butman, 37, practices what he preaches. After graduating from Northwood University, a Michigan-based school specializing in business and car dealership operations, he took a stint as a lube technician at his family's dealership and studied under some master technicians. He became a service adviser, but decided he needed to know more about the profession. So, at age 21, Butman enrolled at Washetanaw Community College, attending night classes to learn how to be a technician.
Along the way, Butman made connections with WCC's department leaders and instructors. They have since helped him recruit new technicians. He is also on the advisory committee for automotive service technologies curriculum across several public school districts.
'The struggle that a lot of dealerships, as well as repair facilities, go through on a daily basis in terms of recruiting techs, isn't as hard for us because we do have really strong connections with the schools," Butman said.
Last summer, Gene Butman Ford and Ford Motor Co. donated several new 2024 Mustangs to Washtenaw area schools, Butman said. The students need to learn on the cars because they contain the latest technology.
"Technology has exploded with complexity. That's one of the things that a lot people don't think about when they think 'Why do we have a technician shortage?' " Butman said. "It's because technology has complicated the repair process to the point where it's much more difficult to repair cars.'
Even with a degree from a trade program, Butman said, much of the higher level technical training falls to dealers and automakers. He said some of his best technicians never went to college; rather the dealership invested in training them and getting them certified.
'If somebody's driven and they want to learn this stuff, they're going to be compensated so well, and that's another thing that helps to get people into the profession," Butman said.
But technician compensation is dependent on the shop and the hours the person puts into it because they are paid for what they produce. Butman said that at his facility, a beginning maintenance technician starts at $16 to $18 an hour. There are progressive pay plans and loyalty bonuses, too.
As they move up in their certification, pay also rises, Butman said. A lube technician can make $30,000 to $50,000 a year, whereas a senior-level master technician can rake in $140,000 to $200,000 a year.
"People who make this compensation, really push themselves,' Butman said. The average technician at his dealership makes $70,000 to $120,000 a year.
But that is far from the national average, according to Wayne State University business professor Marick Masters, who specializes in the auto industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the average pay for an auto mechanic in 2024 was $47,770 a year.
"It's a relatively low-paying job on average, and it has a high level of turnover, and that means most of the people who are actually employed in the industry have little experience," Masters said, explaining the average pay level.
The profession, in general, is not a big growth area either, Masters said, because the jobs are hard to fill given the low pay and long hours. So, couple that fact with the robust job turnover, and he said that in any given year there are 100,000 open technician positions. About 70% of them are due to separations.
"They have to keep filling those positions because if you don't, you lose a lot of revenue," Masters said. "One tech gone for one month would lose $60,000-plus in revenue, $31,000 of which is in profit. This is from a study from the National Association of Dealerships."
For consumers, a shortage of technicians means you may not be getting the high-quality work as you would like because of the frequent employee turnover. It might also take longer for repairs to be made, Masters said.
"All of those things have cost to you as a consumer," Masters said. "Certainly, it's going to raise the cost of business, so you're paying more labor costs, but not necessarily for better quality labor.'
The Ford scholarship program will help, Masters said, but overall 800 scholarships might be "a drop in the bucket in that total of what you're trying to replace."
Masters said fixing the service technician shortage problem will take a multipronged approach.
"When you have such turnover, you have to think it'll be difficult if you don't raise the pay to get people to stay longer," Masters said. "But you have to deal with the work itself and what kind of future it allows. If there's no job path for people, why would they want to stay in that industry?"
At the LaFontaine Group, which has 41 dealerships in Michigan, the technician shortage was such a concern that the group implemented a series of changes to its pay and culture three years ago to attract and retain the top talent in the profession, said Paul Householder, fixed operations director for the LaFontaine Group.
Here are some of the key changes the group made:
Offer a four day workweek: This consists of four days of 10-hour shifts with the flexibility to switch to a five-day week if that works better for their home life.
Pay time-and-a-half warranty pay: That means if an automaker's warranty repair pays for four hours of labor, the dealership will pay the technician for six hours of labor. It bills the automaker for only four hours. The program is a "multimillion dollar expense" for the dealership group each year, but it has been a success in attracting and keeping top talent.
Apprentice program: A master technician will mentor an apprentice in an 18-month program. With every certification the apprentice achieves, the dealership will increase their salary by $25 each week. Eight certifications are available.
Longevity pay program: From January through December, the dealership looks at the number of hours a technician books on repairs and then that technician gets paid that dollar amount from repairs multiplied by the number of years they are with the organization. It is a bonus of sorts that can range from $500 to $10,000 depending on how long the person has been at LaFontaine. The group started this program two years ago, but grandfathered everyone in. So if a technician has been there 20 years, that person started at year 20.
'Most people think of a technician as a mechanic and so it's lost its pizazz and younger people don't want to do this," Householder said. "We've introduced this to show them you can make a great living being a technician. We want to make sure we have that funnel ready, because we have a lot of technicians getting ready to retire.'
Service is the foundation of the business, added Max Muncey, LaFontaine spokesman. The LaFontaine Group sells about 50,000 new and used cars a year across the United States and does 400,000 repair orders a year, he said. The volume of business coming through the service lane makes service the group's No. 1 focus, Muncey said.
'It's so important for us when our guests come back in, that we do it right," Householder added. "Sales sells the first car, but (service) sells the next and if we don't do the repair right, they'll never come back.'
If you are interested in applying for the Ford scholarship, you must be enrolled in one of the qualifying schools and go to www.techforce.org for the application and other information.
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at [e-mail]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Auto Tech Scholarship could be Ford's answer to service tech shortage